North Carolina: Winston-Salem officer struck, injured by vehicle

A Winston-Salem police officer was injured Thursday when a man hit him with a BMW during an investigation of an earlier assault. Officer A.B. Burak fell down when he was hit and suffered a large cut on the back of his head, according to a news release from the Winston-Salem Police Department.

Burak, a three-year veteran of the department, was treated at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and released after the incident. Police said the incident started after 2 p.m. when Burak went to a residence at 2809 Buchanan St. to look for a silver BMW that had been involved in an assault minutes earlier at a nearby residence. While Burak was there, Antonio Renato Thompson, 22, drove up in the BMW.

Burak attempted to speak to Thompson, but Thompson walked away and returned to the BMW, the release says. Burak told Thompson to stop, then opened the driver’s door and directed Thompson to get out.

Thompson, however, placed the vehicle in reverse and accelerated, hitting Burak, police said. Thompson then fled the scene. Thompson, of 2809 Buchanan St., voluntarily went to the police department several hours later, police said. He was charged with assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer and felony hit and run. He was placed in the Forsyth County Jail under a $35,000 secured bond.