BRADENTON, Fla. — Two Bradenton Police officers were injured when a suspect reversed his vehicle into them as they responded to a report of a man with a firearm harassing customers at a gas station, according to the department.
The incident happened around 3:20 a.m. on Nov. 8 at a Wawa, according to the Bradenton Police Department.
| DOWNLOAD: 5 officer safety conversations to have with your team
Body camera video shows officers repeatedly ordering the suspect to get out of the vehicle before he backs into them. Lt. Perry Merrill sustained a traumatic brain injury, and the impact smashed his body-worn camera, police said.
Merrill and Officer John Bembry were the first officers to arrive. Merrill approached the suspect, later identified as Dejerrian Murray, as Murray was getting into his vehicle, police said.
The officers tried to prevent Murray from shifting into reverse. Murray then backed up at high speed, striking both officers, according to police.
Two other Bradenton officers who witnessed the vehicle strike Merrill and Bembry fired at it as Murray drove away, police said.
Bradenton officers, Manatee County deputies and Florida Highway Patrol troopers pursued Murray toward the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and back into Bradenton. An FHP trooper used a PIT maneuver to stop the vehicle a few blocks from the Wawa.
Merrill, who has 30 years of law enforcement service, was treated in the ICU. Both he and Bembry have since been released from the hospital.
Murray sustained minor injuries and is being held without bond, police said.
The suspect faces two counts of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon, along with charges including fleeing or attempting to elude, hit-and-run involving serious bodily injury, hit-and-run involving injury and reckless driving causing serious bodily injury.
Additional charges include possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, improper exhibition of a dangerous weapon or firearm, resisting arrest without violence and violation of probation.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the officer-involved shooting.
