HOUSTON — A police officer was injured during a chase with thieves who were stealing catalytic converters from city vehicles on the northwest side early Friday morning, according to Houston police.
This started just before 1 a.m. when police were called to assist undercover officers near Bingle and Highway 290. Houston police said they were conducting an operation when they saw three suspects stealing catalytic converters from vehicles in the city lot.
Responding patrol officers spotted the suspects after they left the lot and chase ensued down towards the southwest side. Police said the suspects eventually stopped near Beechnut Street and the Southwest Freeway.
Police caught the suspects before they were able to run away from the scene. However, police said when one of their officers got out of his vehicle, he was clipped by one of the other responding patrol units.
Police said the officer was struck in his knee and was transported to a local hospital to be treated for minor injuries. He is expected to be OK.
“I believe one of his partners didn’t see him or he was that close and clipped him a little bit and injured his knee," HPD Lt. Emanuel Pavel said. "It’s not a major injury, but he did need to go to the hospital and get checked out."
The arrests were the result of HPD's task force assembled to put a stop to catalytic converter thefts in the city.
“We’re very thankful because our chief has been using a lot resources to catch these guys,” Lt. Pavel said. “And we are very happy that we were able to catch these guys.”