Description
What started as a traffic stop escalated into a dangerous crash Tuesday night, with a Bradenton police officer getting pinned between a driver and his dashboard.
Officer Shane Sharp pulled over 19-year-old Lenny Macias-Rangel just after 11:30 p.m. for a reported traffic violation on Martin Luther King Avenue E at 12th Street E.
Officer Sharp said he followed Macias-Rangel's car for several blocks before the teen pulled over.
Video shows Officer Sharp approaching Macias-Rangel's window to ask why he didn't stop sooner.
"I did stop!" the teen argues. "Sir, I'm scared. I don't even know what I did."
The officer can be heard asking Macias-Rangel to turn his car off a total of 12 times over concerns he might flee.
"When Macias-Rangel refused, Officer Sharp opened the driver's side door and reached to shift the car into park," the Bradenton Police Department said.