Dallas police officer shot during chase; teen suspects arrested
DALLAS - A Dallas police officer is recovering from surgery after being shot overnight Wednesday. And several of the teenage suspects who were involved are now in custody.
The shooting happened at about 12:15 a.m., when the officer and his fellow Dallas Police Department officers were working an undercover operation in the 3200 block of Easter Avenue, in South Oak Cliff.
They spotted a car driving erratically and took off after that vehicle.
Someone in the fleeing car fired shots at the unmarked police car and one round went through the driver’s side door, hitting the officer in the hip.
The officer was taken to the hospital as other officers continued to chase the suspects with help from a police helicopter.
They eventually took five suspects into custody in the 7200 block of Chesterfield Drive, which is about seven miles from the initial scene.
"When I come out and stood on my patio, all you could see was police cars coming, and it was a ton of them," said one woman who did not want to be identified. "There was a car in the entrance of the apartment complex…and that car was that blue Camaro, and it was just sitting there, but you could just see where they had bailed out."
One of those suspects, 17-year-old Jaheart Nickelberry, was charged with aggravated assault, evading arrest, aggravated robbery, and theft.
A 15-year-old female suspect was charged with evading arrest, but the three other teens were released without being charged. Two of them went to a hospital for observation.
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said the wounded officer, a four-year veteran of the department, is now out of surgery at Methodist Medical Center and doing well.
Featured
Irving police fatally shoot man who drove through traffic barricade, brandished a knife
Irving police officers shot and killed a man they say was armed with a knife after that man plowed through a traffic barricade and led officers on a chase.
"This investigation is ongoing. I will say that I did just have the opportunity to see our officer that just got out of surgery. He is in great spirits. And as I just tweeted out, the first question out of his mouth was ‘did we catch him?’ That’s a warrior right there," the chief said.
Officers were able to find five of the people in that vehicle, but a sixth suspect got away and police are still looking for him.
Police have not released a description of that suspect.
Chief Garcia also said two guns were recovered. One was inside the suspect’s vehicle and the other was tossed outside the car during the chase.
No officers fired their weapons, police said.
"In one second, you can find yourself fighting for your life when we put that badge and that vest on every morning and go to work or at night," Dallas Police Association President Jaime Castro said. "You never know, and this officer found himself in that situation. We're blessed that he's here with us and it's just a reminder to the public how dangerous our job can be in just a matter of seconds."