Warrants: Man hurt in shooting incident tried to run over officer

ASHEVILLE — A city man who was injured in an officer-involved shooting Thursday rammed three police cars with his car and attempted to run over an officer, according to arrest warrants.

Coleman Thomas Clark Jr., 31, of Short Michigan Avenue, suffered injuries from flying glass in the incident Thursday afternoon near Biltmore Village.

State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Teresa West said Clark "sustained minimal injuries to his face and neck from flying glass. None were life threatening."

Clark was treated and released at Mission Hospital, then taken to the Buncombe County Detention Facility, where he was charged with four counts of assault with a deadly weapon on a government official, four counts of trafficking heroin, one count of possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to warrants.

The SBI is looking into the shooting, which involved a drug-suppression police unit. It is standard practice for the SBI to do an investigation any time an officer discharges a weapon.

The shooting occurred in the parking lot of Ash Pantry Food Store on Sweeten Creek Road around 2:30 p.m.

Clark was injured when an Asheville police officer fired into the suspect's vehicle, a Volkswagen Passat, according to warrants.

According to warrants, Clark was charged with trying to run over an officer when he "did assault a government officer of the Asheville Police Department with a sedan, a Volkswagen Passat, which is a deadly weapon, by attempting to drive into. At the time of the assault, the officer was performing the following duty of that office – arrest."

Clark is accused of assaulting three other Asheville officers in that he "did assault a government officer of the Asheville Police Department with a sedan, a Volkswagen Passat, which is a deadly weapon, by ramming vehicle officer was driving," according to warrants.

"We had an operation going on with our officers, trying to apprehend a subject in a car. At one point, at least one officer felt threatened, discharged his firearm into the vehicle," said Capt. Stony Gonce with the Asheville Police Department.

Multiple vehicles were sitting in the store parking lot Thursday afternoon surrounding a gray Volkswagen. At least two of the vehicles appeared to have been involved in a collision with the Volkswagen.

The windshield of the Volkswagen had what appeared to be several bullet holes on the passenger side. A second vehicle also appeared to have a bullet hole in the windshield.

Two people were inside the vehicle that the officer fired at, said Christina Hallingse, public information officer with the Asheville Police Department.

"The only injury was to the one occupant of the vehicle," Hallingse said.

The officer who fired his weapon is on paid non-disciplinary investigative leave, she said.

Lalo Patel, who owns the store, said he was eating his lunch when he heard a shot, but he did not see what happened.

He started to head out of the store, and a police officer stopped him and told him to stay inside.

The last time there was a shooting near Biltmore Village was in February, when two men were shot in the face. That incident was not officer related.

Clark is being held at the Buncombe County Detention Facility under a $200,000 secured bond.

He has several charges from previous arrests that had not been resolved in court yet, including two counts of possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance on jail premises, possession of marijuana and driving with a revoked license, according to court records. Clark has court appearances scheduled on those charges for June 29, July 6 and Aug. 18 in Buncombe County Superior Court, according to court records.

Clark also has spent a total of about two years in state prison on convictions dating back to 2002 for drug trafficking, drug possession, resisting an officer, receiving a stolen vehicle and possession of stolen goods, according to N.C. Department of Public Safety records.