BERRIEN COUNTY, MI – A Benton Harbor police officer shot at a motorist who drove at the officer and a crowd of people, police said.
The motorist was struck in the hand and arrested.
The incident resulted from a “lovers triangle,” Benton Harbor police said.
It began around 3:45 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 24, in the 400 block of Vineyard Avenue near Pipestone Street. The officer came upon a disturbance and approached a crowd.
The suspect’s Chevrolet Malibu drove east on Vineyard then turned around and drove back toward a crowd. The driver accelerated, “swiped” two bystanders, and briefly stopped.
The driver again accelerated toward the officer, who was standing between the Malibu and his patrol car, and a crowd, police said. The officer fired into the vehicle, striking the woman in her right hand.
The suspect, an 18-year-old Benton Harbor woman, was removed from the vehicle and given medical help. She was treated at local hospital then taken to Berrien County Jail, police said.
“It was discovered that the genesis of the disturbance and subsequent incident was a love triangle,” Michael Clark, deputy director of police services for Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety, said in a statement.
The officer has been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation. State police are investigating for any possible charges against the officer.
Benton Harbor police said footage from body-worn and patrol-car cameras will be immediately released once Berrien County prosecutors review footage and authorize its release.
Other agencies assisting at the scene were Benton Charter Township Police Department, St Joseph Department of Public Safety and the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office.
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