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SUV Slams Into Police At Protest, Trooper Breaks Leg, Pelvis

BUFFALO (AP) — A New York State Police trooper suffered a broken leg and a shattered pelvis when an SUV barreled through a group of officers in Buffalo who had just charged a group of people protesting George Floyd’s death, police said Tuesday.

Another trooper and a Buffalo police officer were treated for minor injuries after being struck by the Ford Explorer when it broke through a blockade at about 10 p.m. Monday. Troopers were deployed to Buffalo after violence flared this weekend.

Officers fired shots at the vehicle as it sped away. The two people inside were later apprehended. The driver and a passenger had been shot and were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. A third person in the vehicle was uninjured and taken into custody, police said.

It was not immediately clear whether the pair in the SUV were wounded by police. Officials in Buffalo initially said the pair may have been shot at a nearby intersection shortly before the officers were struck.

Video posted by a bystander captured some of the chaos. It shows a line of police officers, backed up by an armored personnel carrier, rushing and tackling a man who was being interviewed for TV just before the officers were struck. Other officers used batons to whack at protesters, who ran.

Moments later, gunshots could be heard off camera and then the SUV came roaring through the crowd of officers, who scattered.

Elsewhere in the same neighborhood, officers in armored vehicles asked the crowd to disperse and fired tear gas. Several stores in the area were broken into, and people were seen entering and leaving with goods. The windows of a looted convenience store were smashed and protective metal bars had been pulled aside.

State police said the criminal investigation into the SUV incident was continuing.

The unidentified trooper who was run over was treated at a local hospital. The other trooper was treated and released for a hand-and-wrist injury.

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