Man in critical condition after unmarked NYPD car drove into him

An NYPD officer and sergeant in an unmarked car hit a 29 year-old man who was running from police on foot in Brooklyn Sunday morning, sending him to the hospital with critical injuries, NYPD officials said.

At around 3:30 a.m. at East New York and Ralph Avenues in Brownsville, detectives with the Bronx Narcotics squad who were assigned to the Brooklyn neighborhood as part of the NYPD’s summer violence reduction program, watched as a man pointed a gun at a woman in front of a store, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said in a news conference.

The detectives were chasing the man on foot when a sergeant and police officer from the same squad drove into the man with their unmarked car, Chell said.

“They tried to cut him off,” Chell said, calling the incident a “collision.”

The man's condition Sunday afternoon was described as "critical" according to NYPD officials. He is expected to survive.

“These detectives were … exactly where they were supposed to be, and probably prevented a shooting tonight,” Chell said.

About an hour earlier, in a separate incident in Bushwick, police shot and killed a man in mental distress.

Karen Yi contributed reporting.

This story has been updated with additional information.