A cop in Long Island, New York drove his police cruiser into a woman waving a firearm at people driving on the road.
Footage of the incident was posted on Reddit and showed the woman walking at an intersection with a gun in hand, pointing it at several vehicles. At one moment, the video showed she also aimed the gun at her head.
Police responded to a report of the woman firing at least one bullet into the air at the intersection of Bellmore and Jerusalem Avenues in North Bellmore on Tuesday. In the video, police show up, and one of the cruisers hit the woman, who attempted to get out of the way.
As she lay on the ground, an officer ran up and screamed at her to drop the weapon. The woman appeared to reach for the gun that fell out of her hands as she tried to get back on her feet, but another officer came in and tackled her to the ground.
A third officer put her in handcuffs, and she was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries. The officer who hit the woman with the cruiser was also sent to the hospital for trauma. Police said charges have not yet been filed in the investigation.
“Protocol on the police department is that deadly physical force spurs deadly physical force,” Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder told reporters at a press conference. “If somebody has threatened deadly physical force against you or another, you have the right to use deadly physical force, and they chose it through their vehicle and they stopped the individual.”
