WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (WFLA) – The Winter Haven Police Department needs your help locating a suspect who nearly ran over an officer.

Winter Haven police say the incident happened Sunday night just after 2:00 a.m. at the Cambridge Square Apartments in Winter Haven.

When officers arrived they found four people inside a Volkswagen Passat. An officer attempted to speak to the driver, 23-year-old Douglas Davis Jr, police say he started acting strangely, reaching down under his seat and driving into the path of the officer.

The officer involved fearing for his life fired into the windshield shooting Craig Stone in the backseat in the shoulder.

“I didn’t feel it but I knew I got shot because I just seen lots of blood,” Stone said.

Stone tells News Channel 8 he was hanging out with some friends when he saw a bright light.

“I really didn’t know who it was at first and then they just like kind of opened the door and my friend put it in drive and then kind of went forward a little bit and that’s when I got shot,” Stone said.

Davis drove off coming to a stop at Avenue F Southwest and Fourth Street Southeast. Davis and two of the passengers ran from the vehicle leaving Stone injured in the back seat.

“I tried to run home but then I realized it wasn’t worth it. I was probably going to die. So I ran back to the officer and asked him if he could help me,” Stone said.

Winter Haven police located one of the passengers hiding in nearby bushes and a second person turned himself in to police.

Stone’s mother says – her son is lucky to be alive.

“They’re all genuinely good kids. They’re all of ethnicity, I believe this is a racially-profiled case,” Tiffany Dorrsom said.

Winter Haven Police Chief Charlie Bird says that’s not the case. “That officer had no idea who is in the back seat or what their race was in the back seat of that car.” Bird said. “The fact that that passenger got hit is weighing heavy on the officer. It’s weighing heavy on us as an agency.”

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is now handling the criminal investigation and Winter Haven internal affairs is reviewing the policy investigation.

Davis has not been located and anyone who sees him is asked to contact the Winter Haven Police Department, a warrant is currently out for his arrest and he is facing an Attempted Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer charge.

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