A Coram man was allegedly found driving drunk in a vehicle that had just recently struck an officer while fleeing police questioning at the scene of a grand larceny.
According to the Suffolk County Police Department, the incident began with 5th Precinct officers responding on Wednesday to a report of an attempted larceny at the 76 gas station on Route 112 in Medford. When the officers were leaving, a vehicle police have described as belonging to the suspect in the crime returned with three people riding in it, and the officers approached it and talked to the people inside.
Police said during the discussion, the 2014 Dodge Charger fled, hitting one of the officers as well as a police car. The officer who was struck fired three shots at the Dodge.
He was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at the hospital.
The driver went north on Route 112 as one of the other vehicle occupants fled the scene, police said. The Dodge was found shortly afterward on Flores Lane in Middle Island.
Sheldon Davis, a 43-year-old Coram resident, was driving the Dodge at the time it was found, police said. He was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated.
Attorney information for the suspect was not immediately available. He was scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.
Police said the third occupant of the Dodge at the scene of the grand larceny in Medford was questioned and later treated at the hospital for cuts from the glass that broke when the Dodge was shot.
The other officer at the scene, who had not been struck by the Dodge, was evaluated at the hospital, police said.