An undercover St. Petersburg police officer is recovering from an accidental gunshot injury following a reckless driving arrest Friday night, officials said.
The officer, whose name was not released because of his undercover status at the police department, was last listed in serious condition at Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, a St. Petersburg Police Department news release stated.
The incident began about 11 p.m. Friday when patrol officers attempted to make a traffic stop on a 2015 Toyota Corolla.
The motorist behind the wheel of the Corolla was driving in a reckless manner on 28th Street near 11th Avenue South, the release states. When the car sped away at a high rate of speed, the officers did not pursue.
A short time later, undercover officers in the Violent Crimes Task Force spotted the Corolla on Freemont Terrace South. They threw stop sticks in the road to flatten the car's tires.
Eventually the driver, an unidentified 16-year-old boy, jumped out of the moving vehicle and ran. The unidentified undercover officer jumped into the rolling car to stop it as it crashed into an unoccupied Pinellas sheriff's office vehicle. The officer's gun discharged and the bullet struck his hand.
The teenage driver was arrested and charged with fleeing and eluding, resisting arrest without violence, and operating a vehicle without a valid driver's license.
