NEWPORT NEWS-- A police officer was shot during a traffic stop Wednesday night at 35th Street and Madison in Newport News. Police say a suspect also was wounded.
The officer was treated and released from Riverside Regional Medical Center; the suspect also was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Authorities say the officer and his partner pulled over a BMW in a traffic stop about 7:00 p.m. at the 35th Street ramp onto I-664 and at some point shots were fired.
The officer is a member of the organized crime office and police say the officer was wearing plain clothes and driving an unmarked car. It's not clear whether the shooting was related to organized crime or who fired the first shot.
"Some people would like to call it a 'routine traffic stop' and this is a perfect example that there is no such thing as a 'routine traffic stop,'" said Chief James Fox, who spent most of the evening at the scene and stressed the importance of the safety of the department's officers.
"We're family and it's hard, it's absolutely hard, when we have a situation like this where one of our own is injured, but it's the job we do and we take our time, we work through the process," he said.
There will be two investigations - a criminal one focused on the shooting and an internal police investigation on the officers' response.
The names of the officers involved and the suspect weren't released.
