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Police: Search for stolen cruiser suspect continues after highway shooting

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — PROVIDENCE, R.I. – One man is dead and a woman injured after police shot their vehicle on the highway in Providence while searching for a different person.

Wednesday night, police arrested Donald Morgan after he was involved in a car crash. A source tells Boston 25 News that while Morgan was being taken to court Thursday morning, he jumped into the driver seat of a state police cruiser and took off.

“Shortly thereafter, there was some information of the suspect attempting gain entry into a white truck with occupants in it,” Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements said.

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After police got that tip, they began following a white pickup truck on the highway. Chief Clements said the pickup truck was “driving very aggressively, high rates of speed, attempting to elude capture.”

Police say, the man behind the wheel was posing a threat to everyone and eventually got boxed in on 95 north in front of the Providence Place Mall.

“The behavior of the operator of that vehicle, the white truck, is behaving in such an aggressive erratic manner, he was causing a huge public safety risk. There were several people in danger and in jeopardy,” Clements said.

When several officers fired their weapons, the man was killed, and the woman in the passenger seat was shot and rushed to the hospital.

The gunfire was caught on camera for several angles, and along with police, witnesses and others are left asking if it was necessary.

“Several of the officers on the scene received enough of a threat to use that type of force,” Clements said.

A source tells Boston 25 News the man and woman in the truck did have criminal records. Police will be speaking to the woman after she recovers from surgery to know why the driver didn’t stop for police.

Police tell Boston 25 News the hunt for Morgan continues with a focus on the areas near Academy Avenue where he lives.

“He’s not all that dangerous. I know his arrest record. They are all minor charges,” Clements said. “They are not weapons, they are not gang related.”

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