CREVE COEUR, Mo. – A Creve Coeur police officer was hospitalized Saturday evening after responding to a call for a despondent individual outside a local shopping mall.
According to Captain Jon Romas, a spokesman for the Creve Coeur Police Department, the incident happened just after 9:25 p.m. in the West Oak Shopping Center parking lot. Police were told of a man possibly in need of help in a car.
Officers arrived and spoke with the individual, who was seated in the driver’s side of a vehicle, Romas said. They determined the man was in need of mental health treatment and requested help from the department’s crisis intervention team (CIT).
CIT-certified attempted to get the man to exit his car, so he could be evaluated by EMS. However, police claim the man put his vehicle in gear and attempted to flee. The man struck an officer with his vehicle and backed into a police car.
Romas said the man fled onto northbound Interstate 270, but was eventually stopped and taken into custody.
The injured officer was treated at a local hospital and released. Her injuries were minor.
The suspect was uninjured. Romas said the department will seek charges with the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
