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Man ramming pole, police vehicle shot by Peoria officers

Posted at 4:39 AM, Nov 18, 2021
and last updated 2021-11-18 22:15:34-05

PEORIA, AZ — A man has been shot after being accused of driving the wrong way on Peoria Avenue.

Police say officers opened fire after the man rammed his truck into a police car, early Thursday morning.

“It was a lot of lights. A lot of police there,” said Dora Sadler.

Sadler says she was working at Neighbors Cocktails, which is across the way from the shooting, when a customer told her something was going on outside.

This happened at around 2 a.m.

“Somebody said, something’s going on across the street,” Sadler added.

Sadler says that’s when she walked outside, this is what she saw next:

“Cops, I guess, was chasing him. And he got on the curb and after that he go to the parking lot. And that’s when I heard the shots. Pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa,” she told ABC15.

She says everyone immediately went inside and doors were locked.

“Everybody was scared,” Sadler told ABC15.

Peoria police said officers were responding to a call about a wrong-way driver, near 83rd Avenue and Peoria around 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

We’re told officers tried to stop the car twice, but the driver ignored commands and kept driving.

Then, about half an hour later, someone called in about a black truck driving recklessly and backing into barriers around a propane tank at a gas station.

When officers arrived, the driver allegedly ignored commands to stop, and then crashed head-on into a police patrol car with officers inside.

Police say when he tried to get away from officers, he crashed into the front of a patrol car-- pushing it 30 feet.

That was when officers opened fire.

ABC15 obtained exclusive video from the scene, showing the moment police opened fire.

In the video, at least ten shots could be heard.

“I see the ambulance, and everybody else. Yeah. All the cops,” said Sadler when describing what she saw after shots were fired.

The driver was taken to the hospital and is expected to be okay.

No officers or bystanders were hurt.