A officer was attacked moments after trying to save the life of a man who had overdosed.
A New Orleans police officer had to be hospitalized following an unexpected violent altercation with a man in a parking lot on Friday (May 2).
Raychel Willey was deployed to deal with reports of a man who was suffering from a drugs overdose in an SUV at a Walmart car park in Lower Garden District on Tchoupitoulas Street at 10.37am when the incident unfolded.
The 34-year-old cop and Navy veteran administered life-saving medication, Narcan, which reverses opioid overdoses, which saw the man regain consciousness in a matter of moments.
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However, the suspect reportedly panicked at the scene and attempted to flee by turning his car on and driving erratically.
He ended up dragging Willey, who was still attached to the vehicle, some several feet.
While careering through the parking lot, he crashed into a parked car and into an innocent bystander before Willey managed to pull her service weapon and shoot him in the chest, New Orleans Police Department confirmed.
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Willey fell from the vehicle and was found under the truck, while the suspect reportedly managed to drive on to the next intersection, where he crashed into two more cars.
NOPD medics raced to the scene and delivered emergency aid to the suspect and the injured officer.
While the driver, whose identity has not yet been revealed, died from his injuries in hospital, the mom-of-two sustained several injuries but is in stable condition and is expected to recover.
The bystander, a woman, has also been treated for minor injuries.
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NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said: "Here our officer was trying to give aid to someone to try to help them and save them and it turned on a dime," reports The Daily Mail.
"Our officer was in a life and death situation," Kirkpatrick added in a press conference. "When that suspect awoke from a result of the narcan being administered to him, he acted very erratically. We don't know if it was backed up, all we know is that he took off, with her, in the doorjamb of that car," as per WDSU.
"While rendering aid and administering Narcan, the individual allegedly drove away from the scene suddenly with the officer still physically attached to the vehicle," the NOPD added in a statement. "The injured officer, still caught up in the chaos, managed to draw her service weapon and fired several shots into the vehicle.
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"While he fled, the suspect struck another parked car and rammed into an uninvolved bystander, further escalating the danger."
NOPD Public Integrity Bureau's Force Investigation Team is currently reviewing the incident.
Willey has been working as an officer with the department since 2016 and has been placed on administrative reassignment pending the result of the investigation, as per protocol.
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Shoppers from the scene said they witnessed the incident unfold, as one woman told WDSU that she was concerned about the cop from her apparent injuries.
"I didn't know when I lost sight of the officer where she was at, but I do know that because it was the driver's side she was hanging out and it hit on that side that she was underneath the car.
"The officer had to use her revolver, her service weapon, to try to stop the person."
"She looked like superwoman," the witness added.
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