Officer Stuck Halfway Inside Fleeing SUV Injured When It Flipped

CHARLOTTE, NC — A Charlotte police officer was injured early Tuesday morning after a suspect he was attempting to detain tried to drive away from the scene, partially trapping the officer in the driver’s side window before the vehicle hit a tree and flipped.

The June 12 incident occurred shortly before 3 a.m. when three Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers spotted a suspicious vehicle parked on the side of the road in the 1800 block of Maribel Avenue.

The SUV and the two male suspects inside were familiar to them, according to a CMPD report. In early May, the patrol officers encountered the same Chevrolet Trailblazer parked in the exact spot around 3 a.m. after receiving a 911 call that someone in the area was threatening people with a rifle. During that May 4 encounter, CMPD arrested the two men inside the SUV — Deveno Sturgis, 21, and Zevaquis Sturgis, 24 — after finding two stolen guns and a small amount of crack cocaine inside the vehicle.

Early Tuesday morning, after officers spotted the two pair once again sitting in the same vehicle parked in the same location at the same time of morning, they approached the SUV to speak with them.

According to a June 12 CMPD report, the officers saw drug paraphernalia inside the vehicle. When they attempted to detain the men, however, Zevaquis Sturgis, who was a passenger, bolted from the vehicle. He was eventually arrested but not before he actively resisted officers, CMPD said.

As Sturgis fled the scene, Deveno Sturgis — who was in the driver’s seat — began reaching towards the floorboard on the passenger side of the SUV, CMPD said.

“The officer talking to him, knowing that there had been [two] stolen guns inside of this same vehicle just a few weeks before, reached into the vehicle and grabbed the suspect’s arms to prevent him from being able to grab whatever item he was trying to retrieve,” the CMPD report said.

Deveno Sturgis cranked up the SUV and began driving away, with the officer partially trapped inside the vehicle.

After driving 100 yards, he drove off the road and hit a tree, which caused the SUV to flip over. The officer was able to crawl out of the vehicle and was transported to Presbyterian Hospital, where he was treated and released with minor injuries to his hand, leg and nose.

CMPD officers on the scene apprehended Deveno Sturgis from the vehicle, inside which they found a loaded handgun, crack cocaine and marijuana.

Deveno Sturgis was charged with assault on a law enforcement officer causing injury, reckless driving, operate a motor vehicle while fleeing law enforcement, possession of schedule II narcotic, possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana paraphernalia, carrying a concealed weapon and resisting arrest.

Zevaquis Sturgis was charged with possession of marijuana and resisting arrest.

Both suspects were transferred to the custody of the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office, CMPD said.

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