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Lucky cop avoids injury when driver attempts to ram him with stolen car

A lucky police officer narrowly avoided severe injury Friday night when authorities say a man attempted to run the officer over with a stolen car in Hunting Park.

A lucky police officer narrowly avoided severe injury Friday night when authorities say a man attempted to run the officer over with a stolen car in Hunting Park.

Chief Inspector Scott Small said the drama unfolded shortly before 8 p.m. when four officers on bicycle patrol heard a crash and came upon a 2008 Chevy Imapala driving recklessly that hit two parked cars on Marshall Street near Butler. The car fled the scene, and the officers followed, attempted to stop it over one block on Franklin Street.

The driver refused to stop and attempted to run down one of the bike officers, clipping him on his arm and elbow, Small said. The lucky officer was not knocked off his bike.

The cops called the incident over radio, and responding officers found the same car about two blocks away, where it had plowed into a dry-cleaning business at 9th Street and Erie Avenue, Small said. Police immediately arrested the driver, a 20-year-old man.

When police ran the tags of the car, they discovered it had been stolen elsewhere in the city the night before.

The driver was taken to Temple University Hospital to be treated for bruises to his head, and was in stable condition late Friday, Small said. He is expected to be charged with assault on police, operating a stolen vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident. He was not yet identified Friday night.

Small said the police officer appeared to be OK and was not hospitalized on Friday.