NEW YORK OFFICER MAKING TRAFFIC STOP STRUCK BY VEHICLE

The call came in shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday - officer down, struck by a dark Ford Explorer that fled the scene after a routine traffic stop just off of Queens Blvd. John Hsieh had just parked his car when he heard the commotion.

"I saw the police officer pull over someone," said Hsieh. "Then he was between two cars."

Hsieh found the officer on the ground with his own Toyota Celica smashed along its left side, its tailpipe busted, and its mirror left dangling. The officer was rushed to Elmhurst General Hospital with non-threatening injuries. Police quickly began searching under cars and in sewers along nearby Justice Ave., possibly for a discarded weapon.

They detained one vehicle that fit the description with Connecticut plates, and another with Delaware plates with tell tale damage on its right side. Police caught up to the vehicle at the intersection of 94th street and 56th avenue. They are now taking the vehicle into custody as evidence.