DC police officer shoots suspect who drove off with him in back of car
A Washington, DC, police officer shot a suspect who repeatedly ignored his commands to stop his SUV as he was in the back of the moving vehicle, frantic video shows.
The footage, released Friday, shows a wild Oct. 22 encounter between suspect Natango Robinson, 35, and a Metropolitan Police Department cop who raced to help two other officers as they tried to take the man into custody after allegedly chasing another person with a gun.
The third officer repeatedly orders Robinson to “stop reaching” for the suspected weapon in his waistband as his two colleagues struggle with him in the front seat of a dark Jeep. Robinson managed to break free from the first two officers and started to drive off with the third cop still in the backseat, the footage shows.
“Stop! OK, stop!” the cop frantically yelled. “Stop the car! Stop the car! Stop the car! Put it in park! Put it in park!”
Robinson, of southeast DC, then pleads with the officer not to shoot him as he drove roughly two city blocks with the cop in the backseat.
“Please, don’t shoot me, bro!” Robinson pleads at one point as the cop continued yelling for him to comply, the footage shows.
The exasperated officer kept ordering Robinson to stop the still-moving SUV before shooting him in the upper body. Police said the officer then got out of the vehicle and fell into the roadway as Robinson fled. He was arrested at a hospital while being treated for a gunshot wound, department officials said in a statement.
Two officers were hurt during the struggle and were treated at a hospital for minor injuries, while a third didn’t need medical attention, police said. The cop who shot Robinson, who had road rash along his body, has been put on administrative leave following the shooting, per department regulations.
“I fired, I fired,” the officer told another cop who came to his aid after getting out of the SUV, video shows. “I hit him.”
Robinson, who has been charged with counts including felony assault on a police officer and kidnapping while armed, remains hospitalized in serious condition, NBC Washington reported early Saturday.
