By PAUL NELSON
Albany Times Union
SCHENECTADY — A city officer was injured after falling about 15 feet and striking his head early Monday while chasing a suspect in a car that had been reported stolen.
Officer Kevin Derkowski suffered a concussion and wrist injury in the nasty spill that occurred Monday morning when he and his partner became involved in a foot chase after attempting to pull over a BMW they spotted while on patrol near State and Close streets in the Vale neighborhood.
The injured officer was transported by ambulance to Albany Medical Center Hospital, where he was treated and released on Monday, said city police spokesman Kevin Green.
The suspect, identified as Malcolm Chandler, 36, was apprehended. Chandler is charged with assault with intent to cause injury to a police officer and criminal possession of a stolen property, both felonies, as well as resisting arrest and aggravated unlicensed operation. He is scheduled to be arraigned today, and was being held at Schenectady County Jail without bail.
The chase began after Derkowski and his partner, Christopher Semione, spotted a suspicious car traveling in the opposite direction. They ran a check on the license plate, and after learning the car had been reported stolen they flipped on their emergency lights and followed the slow-moving car for about a block.
At that point the driver, who was alone in the vehicle, hopped out while it was still moving and fled on foot. The BMW came to rest after striking the front protective bars of a police car that had arrived to provide backup, said Green.
Both officers gave chase and during the brief pursuit, Chandler jumped over a fence and landed on top of a shed in the back area near 8 Close Street, said Green.
Derkowski, however, missed the shed and landed hard, Green said.
Green said the vehicle was stolen on Thursday, but that the theft wasn’t reported to police until two days later. Derkowski has been with the department since January 2006, Green said.
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