Patrol Officer Ambushed; Cruiser Stolen and Wrecked
12/28/00 BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A Birmingham police officer
was ambushed and had his patrol car stolen during a traffic stop
Wednesday by a gunman who fled in the cruiser with the blue
lights still flashing.
The ambush led to a midday shootout between the officer
and the suspect and a subsequent pursuit that ended when
the stolen cruiser crashed into a tree at the edge of the
Hawkins Park golf course In Roebuck.
There were no injuries in the shootout or the pursuit.
East Precinct commander Capt. Roy Williams said, "It
could have been a lot worse."
The suspect led a fast-moving caravan of police cars through
a busy business district during the lunch hour traffic.
A video camera mounted in Officer Barry Kennamer's police
car clearly shows the armed suspect sneaking up on the
officer and chronicles the wild chase that followed.
Kennamer, who patrols the interstate as a drug interdiction
officer, pulled over a brown Chevrolet Malibu about 12:30 p.m.
The driver got out of his car and walked back to the police
car.
Kennamer ordered the driver to get into the patrol car so they
could talk out of the rain.
The officer stood with his back to the Malibu, negotiating
with the driver, who had refused Kennamers order to get into
the patrol car. At that time, a man brandishing a gun got
out of the Malibu, sneaked up behind Kennamer and ordered
the officer to surrender his gun.
When Kennamer refused to drop his gun and tried to tell the
man to calm down, the suspect fired at him from just a few
feet away. He then jumped into the patrol car and fled.
Kennamer shot out the back window of the cruiser as the man
made a U-turn in the median and headed west.
The driver of the Malibu leaped back into his car and also
fled. He remained at large Wednesday afternoon.
About a dozen police units pursued the gunman in the stolen
cruiser before he spun out of control and crashed into a tree,
totaling the police car.
Police said the unidentified gunman would likely be charged
with attempted murder of a police officer, as well as a
handful of other felony charges.
Backup news staff writer Debby Mongeau
http ://www.thebackup.com/news.asp