Maryland: Officer nearly struck by car, fires at man wanted for auto theft

A man wanted for auto theft is in critical but stable condition after trying to hit an officer with a car and then being shot at by the officer, Howard County police said.An officer responded to the 7200 block of Fawn Crossing Drive in Clarksville around 3:15 a.m. for the report of an unknown suspicious vehicle parked in a driveway. Nobody was inside of the car when the officer arrived at the scene. The officer called for a tow truck. A man was spotted walking along the street toward the vehicle around 4:30 a.m. and told the officer that he was the driver. According to authorities the officer then learned that he was wanted in an open arrest warrant related to an auto theft case. The man then jumped into the car and drove directly at the officer. Police said the officer then fired one shot and hit the suspect.

Police said the officer, a 10-year-old veteran of the police department was not hurt. The suspect has been identified as a 38-year-old man as Tremayne Middleton Dorsey from Temple Hills. Middleton was wanted on two outstanding arrest warrants from other jurisdictions at the time of the incident.

At this time it is unclear why the man was in the residential neighborhood in the middle of the night. The investigation remains ongoing.