Armed man in Brooklyn hit by police car during chase

A suspected armed man in Brooklyn is recovering at a local hospital after police officers struck him in their unmarked patrol car during a chase early Saturday morning.

According to law enforcement sources, the man was first observed pointing a gun at a woman during an argument outside a store near the corner of Sutter and Ralph Avenues in Brownsville around 3:30 a.m. on March 26.

Bronx Drug Enforcement Detectives, assigned to a special unit to reduce violence in the community over the summer, noticed the incident and intervened.

“They were exactly where they were supposed to be and probably prevented a shooting tonight,” Patrol Chief John Chell said at a press conference Sunday morning about the incident and a police shooting in nearby Bushwick.

The suspect fled, police said, and detectives pursued him to the corner of East New York Avenue and Ralph Avenue, where a sergeant and a police officer in an unmarked vehicle attempted to cut the man off in a driveway.

But her efforts, Chell noticed, resulted in a collision with the running man.

Emergency services took him to a local hospital where he underwent surgery Sunday morning. Chell said a firearm was found at the scene.

The investigation is still ongoing, police said.