A high speed police chase in South Jersey has landed a police officer in the hospital.
The pursuit ended in a crash near Pine and Cooper streets in Beverly, Burlington County, around 1:45 on Wednesday morning.
Thirty-eight-year-old Shawn Mickle, a 3-year veteran of the force, is recovering from 2 fractured legs and a serious gash in his head after the grinding crash at the corner of Pine and Chestnut streets.
His father, George, has been with him at the hospital since he was airlifted there Wednesday morning and says his son is doing well considering what happened.
George Mickle is a fire police officer, and was directing traffic around the accident scene about a block away. He was on the scene and at work before he found out it was his son involved in the crash.
"He's aware he's been in an accident," George Mickle told Action News, "aware of his surroundings. But he's very calm about it and that encourages me because he's responsive to everything you say."
Authorities say it began when a vehicle that ran from a traffic stop in Edgewater Park was being pursued by police. They called off the chase near the border. Officer Mickle was aware the car was heading in to Beverly and the prosecutor's office says he was not in pursuit when the cars collided at Chestnut and Pine.
"I woke up because I heard screeching coming around the corner," said Ursula Russell, a resident of Beverly.
"I thought it was a car going through a house from the way it sounded," Lawrence Nelson of Beverly told Action News.
Police say the suspect, who police say was driving a car that belonged to a relative. They are trying to track him down.