Cpl. Derrick Couch (Clarksdale Police)
A man believed to have shot a northwest Mississippi police officer point-blank in the face was brought to the police station by his father Sunday, and police were questioning him, Clarksdale Mayor Bill Luckett said.
Luckett says police with a search warrant found "telling evidence" at the family's home.
The officer, Cpl. Derrick Couch, was in critical condition at Regional One Health in Memphis, Tennessee, nursing supervisor Vivian Crawford said Sunday.
Couch is on a ventilator, has lost one eye, and the bullet remains lodged in his brain, Luckett said.
He said the shooting occurred about four blocks from a convenience store that two men in masks had just robbed Saturday night. The store and City Hall are at opposite ends of the same block, facing different directions, Luckett said.
He said video from a nearby law office shows Crouch getting out of his car, apparently to question the man.
"I've seen the video. It's harrowing," he said. "As soon as the officer approached him, he just swung around and, bam!"
Before the shooting itself, the mayor said, the video shows Couch's patrol car approaching two men, one of whom runs.
"I'm not sure if Officer Crouch saw him run or not," Luckett said. "Then you see the officer's lights turn and illuminate the second guy, who's walking. He walks with a noticeable limp, which is telling" because a video of a robbery at the same store, the Corner Grocery, shows a man with a limp.
The second man is not in custody, Luckett said.
He said Couch is in his mid-30s and had been a narcotics officer until recently.
"This is not a homicide yet. It would be our first this year if it turns into one," he said. "I can't remember an officer in Clarksdale shot by a suspect."
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
