Policeman Shot While in Pursuit of Fugitives
A Los Angeles police officer was shot and critically wounded Wednesday night while chasing men who had fled on foot from a car that had been speeding, authorities said.
Police Chief Daryl F. Gates said the incident “apparently began as a freeway chase.”
The wounded officer, Sam Ward, 31, and his partner, who was not identified, saw four men in a speeding car on the Harbor Freeway at about 7:30 p.m., Gates said.
The officers chased the car a short distance on the freeway and continued the pursuit on surface streets until the car crashed into a fence at 81st Street and Towne Avenue, police said.
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