A man who was driving a car that almost struck a police vehicle then fled when officers tried to stop him, died from injuries sustained from colliding with the police cruiser after ditching the vehicle and attempting to flee on foot.
Martel Mucker, 18, died at University Hospital about 4 hours after the incident that occurred yesterday at approximately 2:30 pm near 23rd and Dumensil in the city's west end.
The officers in the cruiser drove after Mucker after he exited the vehicle and tried to escape on foot. The man ran along the side of 23rd Street and then "jumped into the street" in front of the cruiser, said Officer Dwight Mitchell, a metro police spokesman.
According to reports drugs were found at the scene, but the suspects grandmother, Joyce Mucker, stated that's not enough to justify what happened to her grandson.
Mucker's family spoke publicly this morning, expressing their concern over what happened and questioned police tactics.
"It seems like they could have gotten out and chased him on foot," his grandmother said.
While she acknowledged that it was a mistake for her grandson to run from police, she said she believes he did it out of fear.
"Like most of the black guys, they run," she said. "He's afraid of the police — most black juveniles are."