A police pursuit that started in La Mesa early yesterday morning (May 8) and drew assisting officers from La Mesa, El Cajon, National City, San Diego State University, and the Sheriff’s Department ended with one officer injured and a suspect still at large.

Around 3 a.m. Wednesday, La Mesa Police responded to a reported car theft from an apartment on the 5000 block of Comanche Drive. Officers spotted the vehicle at the corner of Parkway Drive and Baltimore Drive, and followed it until the suspect fled from the moving vehicle headed northbound on Maryland Avenue.

A patrol sergeant who had exited his cruiser to begin setting up a perimeter and coordinating a search for the suspect was then struck by the abandoned stolen car and “dragged by the vehicle for over 50 feet” before he “was ultimately able to push himself off the moving vehicle and onto the pavement. He was later treated for minor injuries at Sharp Memorial Hospital in La Mesa.

Meanwhile, search efforts put forth by the cooperating agencies to locate the suspect, described as a Hispanic male between 5’8” and 5’10” and about 25 years old, were not successful. An investigation into the theft and search for the suspect are ongoing.