By Joel Currier
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — The 29-year-old St. Louis officer wounded Saturday in a shootout with a drug suspect left the hospital Sunday evening, police say.
Meanwhile, police have released two male passengers, 18 and 28, who were in the car that fled officers about 4 p.m. Saturday and crashed at North Taylor and Garfield avenues. Police said they will not be charged.
Police said they tried to stop a gray Camaro after seeing a drug deal on McMillan Avenue near Fountain Park. The car fled and crashed several blocks north.
After the crash, the driver, Jared Harris, 25, of St. Louis County, fired shots at police as he was getting out of the car and was killed by the officers, police said. Officers recovered Harris’ handgun just outside the car. The wounded officer has served the department for five years. The other officer in the shootout is 47 years old and worked for the department for 14 years.
The apparent drug deal that caught the officers’ attention was near the Fountain Park and Lewis Place neighborhoods where the department recently began targeting a “hotspot” policing initiative. The strategy is to flood the area with extra officers to crack down on recent violence there.
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