PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP – A Montgomery County police officer who investigators say was run over several times in a hotel parking lot by a crazed driver who was trying to evade police will be released from the hospital on Friday.
The backstory:
Investigators say the incident unfolded just before noon on Saturday when a Whitpane Township police officer attempted to stop a Mercedes G Wagon driven by 21-year-old Dalton Lee Janiczek.
It’s alleged that Janiczek sped away from the traffic stop and began driving erratically, crossing over the concrete barrier on Skippack Pike. His vehicle was located a short time later in the parking lot of the DoubleTree Guests Suites Hotel in Plymouth Township.
When an officer attempted to confront the vehicle using his emergency lights, investigators say Janiczek put his car in reverse and slammed into the police cruiser. The officer exited his vehicle and ordered Janiczek to stop, but investigators say he accelerated towards the officer, causing him to fire at the G Wagon.
Janiczek again accelerated towards the officer, according to police, knocking him to the ground. As the officer attempted to place a tourniquet on his wounded leg, investigators say Janiczek circled the parking lot and struck the officer three more times as he laid on the ground.
He fled the parking lot, prompting a pursuit by Plymouth Township police officers that ended when Janiczek rammed head-on into a police car, injuring another officer. Janiczek was arrested, and both wounded officers were taken to Abington Hospital for treatment.
Janiczek has been charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault, and fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer. The Montgomery County Detective Bureau is investigating the incident, per county policy.
What we know:
The wounded officer was discharged from the hospital on Friday, nearly a week after the life-threatening incident unfolded.
Fellow officers lined an emergency room exit as the officer left the facility with his family.
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