3 kids witness police-involved shooting from back of speeding ca - Fox 2 News Headlines

Three young children in the back seat of a car had an uncomfortably close view of a police-involved shooting on the Far South Side early Saturday.

When all was said and done, the driver of the late-model Jaguar was shot while trying to speed away from a traffic stop, and the officer in the passenger seat who shot him realized the children probably saw him do it, a police union official said.

"The car (crashes) up over a curb and the really surprising thing is after the smoke clears the officer realizes there's three young kids in the back of the car," said Pat Camden, a spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police.

The man was shot because he pulled a gun on the officer, Camden said.

Police say about 1 a.m. officers pulled the Jaguar over in the 9400 block of South Harbor Avenue in the Calumet Heights neighborhood.

Two men – the driver and a passenger – got out of the car and were being frisked by the two-man police team, Camden said.

Suddenly the driver jumped in the car and attempted to flee as an officer on the passenger side dove in an open door to stop him, Camden said.

As the driver sped away he tried to pull a gun, but the officer pulled his own gun and shot the man, who lost control and crashed the car over a curb, Camden said.

Both officers, who were bruised up in the scuffle, and the man who was shot were taken to Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn for treatment, Camden said. The man's condition is not known, he said.

While the driver's relationship with the children could not immediately be determined by police, an aunt of the children showed up at the scene to take custody of the kids, Camden said.

A representative for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services could not be reached early Saturday to determine if the children were taken into protective custody.