3 PPA rapid response officers and 1 driver injured in Narva-Jõesuu drug bust
Four people, three of them police officers, were injured Friday in the Ida-Viru County town of Narva-Jõesuu during an operation to detain two men suspected of drug offences.
Around 5 p.m. Friday, Police and Border Guard (PPA) East Prefecture armed rapid response officers were in pursuit of two men suspected of drug-related crimes along the main Tallinn-Narva highway.
The officers were attempting to find a suitable point to deploy measures to halt the suspects' vehicle when it suddenly exited the highway onto another road in the direction of Narva-Jõesuu, a PPA spokesperson said.
An officer in one of the PPA vehicles in pursuit then made a U-turn on the highway to continue the chase, but was hit from behind by a Volvo vehicle being driven by a member of the public.
Ambulances were called out to take the Volvo driver, a 40-year-old male, and the three PPA officers who had been in the police pursuit vehicle. The hospitalization was for checkup purposes and according to current information, none of the injuries incurred was serious.
Other rapid response team personnel continued pursuing the suspects' vehicle in other PPA vehicles; reportedly the driver of the suspects' vehicle only noticed the PPA were in pursuit at this point and attempted to flee the scene. The PPA gave chase and indicated the suspects should pull over; after these signals were ignored the car chase continued through the streets of Narva-Jõesuu. After a vehicle-ramming attempt by the PPA failed to stop the fleeing vehicle, the officers fired warning shots.
When this failed to have any effect, the officers opted to use their service weapons to shoot out the suspect vehicle's tires, a measure which ultimately worked. No further injuries were incurred in the operation.
Two men, aged 31 and 42, were detained at the scene on suspicion of drug-related crimes: Just prior to the suspects' vehicle being halted, they had discarded narcotics out of the vehicle's window while it was still moving. The PPA later retrieved these items from the scene.
Indrek Püvi, operational commander of the East Prefecture, noted detaining criminal suspects always involves a certain level of risk for PPA officers.
"Suspects may behave unpredictably in such situations and take excessive risks while fleeing, endangering both themselves and others. Consequently, our primary objective is to contain the situation as quickly as possible and to detain the individuals. We continuously train for different scenarios to ensure that arrests are as safe as possible both for our officers and for bystanders. In situations involving elevated threats, when a suspect fails to comply with police orders, decisive action must be taken. Police officers never use service weapons lightly. It is a measured decision, and we always assess the surroundings to ensure maximum safety," Püvi said.
The PPA is investigating the incident via criminal proceedings under the section of the Penal Code on the illegal handling of larger quantities of narcotic substances, while the investigation is being supervised by the Viru District Prosecutor's Office, as is standard practice in criminal investigations in Estonia.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mari Peegel
