Kyiv patrol police confirmed that a passenger has been shot dead by an officer during a high-speed chase in Kyiv's Holosiivsky district.
A late night car chase took place early on Feb. 7 when police officers spotted a BMW sport utility vehicle with four passengers. According to police, the men consumed alcohol and threw bottles out of the car’s windows.
The driver did not listen to the police’s request to pull over. Instead, he started speeding at more than 100 kilometers per hour throughout the capital violating numerous traffic rules, the police reported.
Kyiv’s Patrol Police Chief Officer Yuri Zozulya said that the driver reached very fast pace causing a dangerous situation. The lawbreaker made several laps around the city’s central railway station and then drove from Shevhenko Boulevard to Peremohy Square. At least five patrol cars were involved during the 40-minute chase, and police warned the driver about the violation using a police car megaphone and then by firing some shots in the air as the driver would not stop.
Zozulya said that the police officers tried to block the car after it finally stopped in Kyiv’s Holosiivky district. The officers got out of their cars to approach the vehicle. But the car suddenly accelerated towards one of the officers running over his foot and breaking through the police cordon.
The chase continued prompting the police to fire shots at the car’s tires. The gunfire struck an unidentified man inside the car soon after which the vehicle ended up in a ditch.
The driver tried to escape, but was caught shortly after. He was arrested at the site together with two surviving male passengers. Police found the fourth suspect in the car with several injuries. The officers began first aid, but the man died 10 minutes after, according to Zozulya.
The suspects might be charged with drunk driving and police noncompliance. Police suspect that the men could have been on drugs but further examination is necessary, Zozulya said.
Names of the suspects are yet to be released since the investigation is still ongoing.
The police didn’t confirm to the Kyiv Post whether this was the first time the newly-established patrol police officers killed a suspect.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected].
