SALEM — A police officer was injured and two surveillance vehicles damaged when a drug bust took a violent turn on Thursday night.
Police say they requested an arrest warrant for Paul Iudice, 19, of 26 Elizabeth Lane, Peabody, on Thursday after conducting three undercover buys of heroin from him in the past month.
After obtaining the warrant, an undercover officer contacted Iudice to purchase more heroin on Putnam Street, according to the police log. Detectives set up surveillance in the area and an officer approached Iudice, who was sitting in the passenger seat of a Toyota Camry, and bought a "twist" of heroin with documented buy money from him.
When the car Iudice was in started to the leave, a police vehicle pulled in front of it, blocking its path, and officers approached on foot to conduct the arrest, said Detective Brian St. Pierre. But as they approached, the woman driving the Camry stopped the car, put it in reverse and "slammed" into a Marblehead police surveillance vehicle which had pulled in behind her.
Sgt. Kristian Hanson, a Salem police officer who had been getting out of the Marblehead vehicle at the time it was struck, was thrown "about five feet" to the ground when the passenger side door of the vehicle struck him, St. Pierre said. Hanson sustained abrasions to his left hand and complained of a sore back, and said he would seek medical care on his own if needed.
Iudice was arrested without further incident on a charge of distribution of a class A drug (heroin) and the warrant.
The driver of the vehicle, Jessica White, 20, of 22 Blue Jay Road, Lynnfield, was arrested on charges of distribution of a class A drug (heroin), assault and battery by dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a police officer and failure to use care in backing.
The Marblehead police vehicle sustained front end damage during the incident. A Salem police vehicle it was pushed into sustained minor damage to its headlights.
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