Man Arrested After Pinning Officers With His Vehicle At Southeast Lincoln Filling Station

LINCOLN–(KFOR Dec. 3)–A Lincoln Police officer and Nebraska State Trooper suffered non life-threatening injuries Thursday morning, when they were pinned between a police cruiser and the car driven by a man suspected of causing disturbances at several convenience stores around the city.

Officer Erin Spilker says 29-year-old Connor Sweeney was arrested for two counts of assault on a police officer and several other charges related to the incident.  Spilker says officers were first called to the Casey’s General Store north of 48th and Pioneers, when an employee said a man had been asking for money.  That suspect, later identified as Sweeney, apparently took a cup of coffee and left without paying for it.  Police were familiar with Sweeney, due to other calls about a man acting suspicious and threatening people at other gas stations around Lincoln.

After getting a description of the car and a license plate number, police were called to the U-Stop near 70th and Pioneers, where an employee told officers a man was walking behind the counter and threatening employees.  That man was identified as Sweeney and he allegedly took cigars from behind the counter and continued to cause a disturbance.

 

The suspect’s car that pinned a Lincoln Police officer and Nebraska State Trooper following a disturbance at a U-Stop near 70th and Pioneers on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020. This photo is from the traffic stop on South 70th Street, just north of Normal Boulevard. (Courtesy of 10/11 now)

 

 

Spilker says when the first LPD officer arrived, they saw a red car at the gas pumps and parked the cruiser behind it to prevent Sweeney from leaving.  As he was walking toward the car, a Nebraska State Trooper showed up to help the LPD officer.  Both tried to stop  Sweeney as he was getting into his car, but he got in and started driving his car back and forth into the police cruiser and gas pump, trapping the officers.  Both were injured and an officer emergency was sent out over the police radio.

Another trooper showed up to the scene  and started to pursue Sweeney’s vehicle westbound on Pioneers Boulevard before turning northbound onto 70th Street.  Spilker says once the car got to an area with no traffic between Normal Boulevard and Van Dorn Street, the trooper was able to stop Sweeney’s car and took him into custody.