Albuquerque Police Department Chief crashes into vehicle while avoiding gunfire

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The police chief in New Mexico’s most populous city crashed his car into another vehicle after he attempted to avoid gunfire while on his way to a Saturday morning press conference.

The Albuquerque Journal reported that Albuquerque Police Department Chief Harold Medina and his wife, who was in the truck with him, were not injured, but the driver of the classic Mustang that he crashed into was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

Department spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos told the Associated Press that Medina had pulled his vehicle over by a homeless encampment that was blocking a sidewalk, which the department has recently enforced. He called for officers to look at the encampment, before a fight broke out between two people with one person pulling a gun.

The person with the gun shot at the other person, who ran in the direction of Medina’s truck, Gallegos said. The department is still looking for the shooter.

There is not yet an update on the Mustang driver’s injuries, Gallegos said.

The press conference Medina was on the way to was to address efforts to fight crime in the area, particularly near a store nearby that had seven homicides over the past four years, Gallegos said in a phone interview.

“It was scary to everyone that we were going to talk about that and then the chief was a witness to a shooting right nearby,” Gallegos said.