WORCESTER, Mass. – A driver struck and injured two police officers the morning of Dec. 1 after being stopped by police for fitting the description of a police impersonator.

Two female Clark University students called police around 2:30 a.m. and reported that a man had pulled up to them in a car, showed them a badge and asked them to get inside. They gave police a description of the vehicle the man was driving in.

Worcester Police Officer Pat Harrington, 24, and Clark University Campus Police Officer Michael Palermo later pulled over 45-year-old Antoine Ayoub, whose vehicle matched the students’ description. Ayoub refused to turn off his ignition and attempted to flee when Harrington reached into the vehicle to remove the key. The vehicle sped off with Harrington still partially inside, who was dragged a block before the driver lost control and the vehicle flipped over, pinning the two men inside.

Firefighters extricated them from the wreck and police arrested Ayoub on charges of armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery on a police officer, and possession of a gun and ammunition without a license.

Clark University Officer Palermo was injured when he was thrown off the back of the moving vehicle. He had jumped on to assist Harrington. Palermo was hospitalized for serious but non-life-threatening injuries to his legs and hips, and Harrington was hospitalized for non-life-threatening injures to his legs.

Police found a .45-caliber handgun, binoculars and an old sheriff’s deputy badge inside the vehicle. Ayoub, police said, never worked for the sheriff’s office.

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