Holly MatkinRocky Mount, NC – A shooting victim fell unconscious and inadvertently dragged a Rocky Mount police officer with a vehicle after the officer stopped to help him Sunday night.
The incident occurred near the 600-block of Lincoln Drive at approximately 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 13, the Rocky Mount Police Department (RMPD) said in a press release.
A RMPD officer responded to the area after someone called 911 to report “a shooting with injury” and found an unconscious man sitting in the driver’s seat of a stationary vehicle, according to police.
The victim was suffering from “an apparent head injury,” the RMPD said.
RMPD Officer Mark Bieber got out of his patrol car and attempted to render aid to the victim, at which point the wounded man “incoherently accelerated, trapping the officer’s arm inside the vehicle,” according to police.
The officer was dragged approximately 15 feet before the car slammed into a nearby firetruck.
The first responders inside the firetruck were not injured in the crash, Newsweek reported.
Officer Bieber suffered non-life threatening injuries and was rushed to UNC Nash Health Care for treatment.
He was released to recover at home by Monday, WNCN reported.
RMPD Chief Robert Hassell said Officer Bieber was doing well in the wake of the incident, the Rocky Mount Telegram reported.
“He’s home recuperating,” Chief Hassell said.
The driver of the car, 32-year-old Jonathan Nixon, was transported to Vidant Medical Center in critical condition.
Police said the shooting appeared to have been “a domestic-related incident” involving parties who knew one another, according to the press release.
The gunman fled the scene prior to officers’ arrival.
He was later identified as 20-year-old Alem Battle, WNCN reported.
Battle is now wanted on charges of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill and attempted murder.
The RMPD’s Criminal Investigation Division is handling the ongoing investigation into the incident.
