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Duluth PD cruiser hits chase suspect

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A wild police chase in Gwinnett County ended Monday with an officer running down a suspect

What started as a routine traffic stop ended on foot with the suspect running through grass along Steve Reynolds Boulevard.

The chase started at Steve Reynolds Boulevard and Pleasant Hill Road when the suspect rammed another car after a Duluth police officer tried to pull him over.

Matt Strashnick snapped a photo showing where the suspect's Honda ended up.

"Heard the impact and thought someone got hurt, looked up and next thing you know cop's yelling and he just takes off running," Strashnick told Channel 2's Steve Gehlbach.

Witnesses said the driver jumped a fence at a storage facility, then ducked into a Rite Aide drug store where police spotted him.

He then took off in a car.

Police said the suspect pushed off a police pickup truck and into the path of the small unmarked gray Ford driven by another officer.

"It was like something out of a movie. He just went in the air and hit them," witness Robert Johnson said.

The impact left the windshield smashed in. But police said the officer was not trying to hit the suspect on purpose.

"They were actually trying to stop traffic so he wouldn't get hit by a car. He just decided to take an action that changed that around," Lt. Pete Bara of the Duluth Police Department said.

Witnesses said the man appeared in bad shape. He was rushed to the hospital. The message from one witness: Don't run from police.

"Just give yourself up. Whatever it is you've done. Just stop. It's not worth your life," Johnson said.

Police have not released the driver's name or condition.