Authorities claim the teenager hit a garage with a stolen vehicle before driving it toward officers
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A 14-year-old Ohio boy was seriously injured after a police officer shot him during a car break-ins investigation in Cleveland.
Officers from the Cleveland Police third district vice unit were investigating a series of more than 30 “fresh” car break-ins that took place in the city’s Midtown neighborhood on the night of Friday, Dec. 13, when they saw a car with three passengers sitting in the driveway of a vacant home on East 146th Street at around 2 a.m. local time on Saturday morning, according to a press release from thee Cleveland Division of Police.
Police said they tried to make contact with the three people, but they got into the car and drove away, cutting through an empty yard. Police tried to stop the car, they said, but the driver headed west down the city’s St. Clair Avenue.
Around 3:20 a.m. on Saturday morning, investigators, still patrolling East 146th Street, said that they saw the car, later identified as a stolen Kia Sportage, come back down the street and pull out of the same driveway.
Police said that they approached the Kia at around 4 a.m. and they found the 14-year-old boy — whose name has not been made public — sleeping in the driver’s seat. Officers alleged that he woke up as they approached the car and put it into drive, hitting a police car in the process.
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Police then claim the boy put the car into reverse, hitting a garage, before driving toward the officers. An officer — whose name has also not been made public — fired at the boy, hitting him one time in the right shoulder.
Police next took the teen out of the car and rendered first aid, before EMS took him to UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, WOIO reported. He has since been discharged from the hospital, per Cleveland.com.
Cleveland police said that the 14-year-old and another teenager had been charged with another crime and were supposed to be on electronic monitors, but police said they had cut the electronic monitors off.
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Police also obtained video footage that showed one of the suspects had a gun. A firearm was also recovered from inside the Kia.
The shooting will be investigated by the police department’s use-of-force team, and the officer involved has been placed on administrative leave.
