Off-Duty Police Officer Stabbed At Far South Side Auto Yard
UPDATED: 5:47 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An off-duty Indiana police officer was stabbed early Monday, while working at an auto pound on the Far South Side.
The 22-year-old officer was working security at a city-owned auto pound in the 10300 block of South Doty Avenue, when he got into an altercation with someone who cut and stabbed him multiple times in the face.
Sources told CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot police were speaking with a person of interest in the case.
Police said it appears the officer interrupted someone breaking into a vehicle at the auto yard around 1 a.m. The suspect fled the scene after stabbing the officer.
Sources said the officer claimed he was attacked by an auto pound employee who was breaking into vehicles.
The officer, 22-year-old Edward Morrison, had most of his head wrapped in a bandage when he was taken away in an ambulance. The officer was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in serious condition. A fire department spokesman said the officer was alert.
Sources said he suffered cuts to his scalp and face, and a puncture in his shoulder. The injuries are similar to what someone would get if attacked with a box cutter.
Morrison has worked for about a year for the Indiana University Police Department at the IU Northwest campus in Gary, according to a spokesperson for the university.
"The department was shocked and saddened this morning to hear of this news about Officer Morrison," said IUPD-NW Interim Chief Wayne James in a statement. "His physical injuries could have been much worse and we are all hopeful and positive about his continued recovery."
Jake Kosarko says he's known Morrison his entire life. He says police work, is Morrison's passion.
"He loves this," Kosarko says. "It's a family thing, you know, he's had family on the force and it's something he's always wanted to do."
Kosarko says Morrison is in "good spirits."
"He just let his guard down for a second because it's somebody who he knew," Kosarko said.
Area South detectives were investigating.
