Police: St. Paul officer shoots, wounds man driving at him

A St. Paul police officer shot and wounded a man as he drove a vehicle at him late Sunday near N. Earl Street and Geranium Avenue E., authorities said.

The 53-year-old St. Paul man, who was wanted on suspicion of domestic assault and active warrants, kept driving and then crashed about a mile away in an alley in the 900 block of Reaney Avenue, police said. He ran away and was soon apprehended, then taken to Regions Hospital, police added.

The officer fired at the suspect a few blocks south of Lake Phalen because he "drove his vehicle in the immediate direction of a responding officer who was on foot," according to a police statement. The suspect was hit in his lower rear torso, police said.

No officers were hurt. The suspect has been moved to the Ramsey County jail, police said. He is being held on suspicion of domestic assault, domestic assault by strangulation, assaulting a peace officer, fleeing police in a vehicle and driving after license cancellation.

Police declined to say whether the officer took any evasive action to avoid being hit.

"We won't be elaborating about that at this time," said police spokesman Howie Padilla.

The officer who shot the man is on three-day administrative leave, which is standard in such incidents. His identity is scheduled to be released Tuesday morning.

According to court records, the suspect was charged for driving after cancellation on May 31 after police observed him making an illegal U-turn. The suspect's driving privileges had been revoked years before. A warrant for his arrest was issued this month after he failed to turn himself in to serve his sentence.

The suspect has a long record of convictions including a 2007 conviction for fleeing a police officer in which he crashed his car into a tree after being stopped for a traffic violation.

Star Tribune staff writers Chao Xiong and Nicole Norfleet contributed to this report. Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482