FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy and a suspect have been injured after a chase ended in a deputy-involved shooting in Fort Lauderdale, Wednesday afternoon.
According to BSO, the deputy and the subject were both hurt after a reported shooting involving the deputy. The incident occurred in the parking lot of Holy Cross Hospital, in Fort Lauderdale, along the 1900 block of East Commercial Boulevard, sometime just before 3 p.m.
Sheriff Scott Israel said that a man who was wanted for “aggravated fleeing” was spotted at a hotel in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, where deputies gave him what Israel called clear and concise instructions to come with them.
Israel said the subject ignored those orders, backing his car into one deputy and injuring him. Another deputy then shot the man in the shoulder, according to Israel, and the man drove off before crashing into two cars in the hospital parking lot.
“They approached the subject, they gave him clear and concise orders to exit his vehicle,” Israel said. “Instead, the subject chose a path of resistance and backed his vehicle, not only into the deputy’s vehicle but struck our deputy.”
Israel said the shooting needs to be investigated “on its own merit,” referencing the fatal shooting of Terence Crutcher, a 40-year-old unarmed black man, by a white police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Friday night, and the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.
“We live in a United States circa 2016. We live in a violent world and these things happening all over America, but the most important thing to remember is each shooting, each use of force needs to be looked at and investigated on its own merit,” Israel said. “We can’t say something that happened in Ferguson or happened in Tulsa is related to what happened here in Broward County.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the incident.
One patient at the hospital said her nurse’s car was one of the vehicles hit.
“There were police cars everywhere, and finally, when I got into my appointment, I was talking to the nurses, and one of the nurse’s car was one that he hit,” Lori Wille said. “I think that’s terrible, you know. We need our cops, good cops. We need them all over the world today.”
The BSO deputy was taken to an area hospital.
The suspect has been transported to Broward Health Medical Center.
Both the suspect and the deputy sustained injuries that were not life-threatening and are expected to be OK.
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