BREAKING NEWS: Ocoee police officers recover stolen vehicle after chase

A suspect and his passenger were apprehended Monday night in Ocoee after driving off with a stolen vehicle and injuring a police officer.

At around 8:15 p.m. Monday, Dec. 30, an officer with the Ocoee Police Department noticed a silver 2012 Audi registered as stolen while on patrol, according to a media release from the police department. As the officer approached the vehicle, which was backed into a parking space at 425 W. Silver Star Road in Ocoee, he observed a male suspect standing near a convenience store in the area.

The male suspect reportedly ran to the stolen vehicle as the officer pulled into the parking lot and stepped out of his police truck. The suspect then reportedly entered the stolen vehicle, accelerated directly at the officer and struck the officer’s marked police truck in the driver’s side door. The officer jumped back toward his vehicle to avoid being hit, but suffered a hand injury when the door was struck. 

The male suspect fled the scene in the vehicle heading eastbound on Silver Star Road with a female passenger. Ocoee police officers responded and located the suspects near the intersection of Clarke and Silver Star roads before the suspects fled once again heading southbound on Clarke Road.

An officer was able to deploy stop sticks as the suspects were entering the intersection of Colonial Drive, causing the vehicle to stop on the entrance ramp of State Road 408.

The driver and the passenger fled on foot but were apprehended after a pursuit by Ocoee police officers.

The male suspect, identified as Gregoria Junior Salazar, will be charged with attempted aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, grand theft auto, fleeing and eluding and other charges pending the completion of the investigation. The female passenger, identified as Nicole Leigh Blankenship, will be charged with trespass in a conveyance and resisting without violence.