What to Know
- A 14-year veteran of the Arlington Police Department was twice run over by a man who rammed a police car while trying to elude capture.
- A backup officer managed to climb into the driver's car and shoot him while trying to get him to stop the vehicle.
- Wanted man identified by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office as 23-year-old Tavis Crane.
A man was fatally shot by Arlington police late Wednesday night after he ran over a police officer twice while trying to avoid arrest at a traffic stop, police say.
A man — later identified by the Tarrant County medical examiner as 23-year-old Tavis Crane — was pulled over by a female officer in the 1700 block of Spring Lake Drive just after 11:30 p.m. During the traffic stop, the officer learned Crane had multiple outstanding warrants, including one for felony evading arrest-probation violation out of Dallas County and a number of misdemeanor warrants in Grand Prairie.
Police said the officer called for backup and two additional officers came to the scene. [[412525603,C]]
"They tell the driver [he's] under arrest and he makes the decision he's not going to go back to jail," said Lt. Chris Cook, Arlington police spokesman.
Cook said Crane backed over the female officer and rammed into her patrol car. He then put the car in drive and ran over the officer a second time.
At the same time, a backup officer opened the driver's side rear door on Crane's car, climbed inside the car attempting to get the driver to stop and ended up firing his weapon, police said.
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Crane was struck and was transported to Arlington Memorial Hospital. According to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office, Crane died not long after midnight.
The female officer, whose name has not been released, is a 14-year veteran of the department. Cook said she was transported to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth and, despite having multiple broken bones and fractures, was in "good spirits" when visited by Arlington Chief of Police Will Johnson.
"This just highlights the dangers our men and women face when they're performing their law enforcement duties in the field," Cook said. "We have an enormous amount of public support and we're thankful for that."
The officer who shot Crane has not been identified either. Police said he's been placed on routine administrative leave.
A second man, a woman and a toddler were inside Crane's car at the time of the shooting but none were injured, police said. The man and woman were questioned by detectives, but were not arrested or charged. The toddler was released to a family member.
Cook said investigators are also in the process of reviewing dashcam video of the incident and are interviewing the officers who were involved.
