4 Dallas police officers hit by car while investigating unrelated crime

DALLAS - Four Dallas police officers were hit by a car while investigating an unrelated crime early Thursday morning.

It happened while officers were in a standoff with a shooting suspect in a Northwest Dallas neighborhood near Northwest Highway and Webb Chapel Road.

Investigators say 22-year-old Angel Morales refused to come out after he shot a man.

During that investigation, officers were set up on a perimeter around the scene. That's when police say an uninvolved driver, 45-year-old Christopher Ramirez, drove through the perimeter and then around a fire truck and hit a marked patrol vehicle.

Frederick Frazier is the first vice president of the Dallas Police Association.

"You put them there for a reason. So folks don't go through that street," he said.

The crash was hard enough to cause an officer sitting in the front of the patrol car to be thrown from the vehicle, and then the patrol car itself hit three other officers standing nearby.

The officers were taken by ambulance to the hospital.

"The one thing they're focused on is what's ahead of them. They're not focused on what's going to come behind them because they've got the fire truck," Frazier said.

The officers were treated at the hospital and later released.

Ramirez stayed at the scene and was charged with four counts of aggravated assault and four counts of passing an authorized emergency vehicle.

At this time, investigators say there is no indication the driver was impaired at the time of the crash.

Frazier said he's grateful the officers are physically okay.

"Thankfully, the injuries are very minor. But it's a scary situation," he said. "By the grace of God, they're okay because that could go in a completely different way. And some of this comes down to training and some of this comes down to luck." 

Police say Morales tried to escape from a window but was taken into custody and charged with aggravated assault.