OAKLAND — A police officer on a traffic control post after a vehicle crashed into an East Oakland church was injured Tuesday night when a man fleeing another wreck deliberately rammed into his patrol SUV with a car, authorities said Wednesday.
The 40-year-old Hayward man driving the car that hit the officer’s SUV was arrested and police found a stolen gun inside his vehicle, authorities said.
The officer, who police did not name, was taken to a hospital for treatment and was later released, authorities said.
The officer was injured about 8:46 p.m. Tuesday in the 700 block of 98th Avenue.
Police said the officer was on a traffic patrol post while other officers were investigating a crash where a car had plowed into Grace Baptist Church, 705 98th Avenue. It was not immediately known if anyone else was hurt in that crash besides the 31-year-old man driving the car, who apparently someone lost control of the vehicle before hitting the church, authorities said.
While that was going on, police said the Hayward man, who was driving a Nissan, was fleeing the scene of another wreck he had been involved in on another part of 98th Avenue when he deliberately hit the parked SUV the officer was in.
He was arrested and police said they found a loaded gun inside the Nissan that was reported stolen out of Southern California.
After being checked out at a hospital, the man was booked on suspicion of assault on a police officer and various weapons and traffic related charges, including felony hit-and-run.
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