HARD TO WATCH

VIDEO: Tacoma Police Car Speeds Into Crowd of Pedestrians

A police spokeswoman says the officer was fleeing people pounding on his windows.

A Tacoma, Washington, police officer responding to a street race plowed his car into a group of pedestrians on Friday night. “Oh my God!” a man can be heard screaming as the patrol car knocks over numerous people and appears to run over one of them—a horrifying scene caught on video by a spectator. Police spokeswoman Wendy Haddow told the Tacoma News Tribune that said the officer was trying to clear the crowd, using the car loudspeaker, when people surrounded him and began pounding on the windows, she said. “He was afraid they would break his glass” and sped away to protect himself, she said. Two people were hospitalized and the officer is on leave. Afterward, protesters gathered at the scene to demand action against the officer.