Police Officer Is Struck by Speeding Minivan

Police are searching for a suspect who hit a police officer late Monday night in Brooklyn and then fled the scene of the accident, police officials said.

The veteran officer, who was not identified, was outside of his patrol car investigating a vehicle theft when the suspect, driving a silver Honda Odyssey, drove down Kent Avenue and struck him at about 11:50 p.m. on the corner of 11th Street in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, police said. A police source said the suspect was speeding.

The officer was knocked to the ground and sustained a head injury, police said. The sidewalk where the officer lay after the accident was covered in blood.

The suspect fled the scene north on Kent Avenue, police officials said.

During the incident, the side view mirror of the suspect's vehicle was knocked off and recovered by police at the scene of the crime, according to a report by WABC. Paramedics arrived to the scene and rushed the officer over the Williamsburg Bridge to Bellevue Medical Center, where he was in stable condition with a head trauma, police said.