A
city police officer was hospitalized Wednesday after a man struck her
with his getaway car during a foiled robbery that spawned a morning
shootout and revealed a drug packaging operation just blocks from the
North Side police station.

Officer Colleen Bristow, 28, a three-year veteran, suffered a broken
elbow and a concussion but was "in good spirits and good condition," at
a hospital, North Side Cmdr. RaShall Brackney said.

The officer was trying to capture one of at least five heavily armed
men who police said sought money and drugs from an operation hidden
inside The Swap Meet, an indoor flea market at 1225 Brighton Road.

Police arrested three men –– Kevin Allison, 20, and Aaron Farrow and
Rayshaun Jones, both 24 –– and were searching for two more Wednesday
night. Charges were pending.

Officers responding to reports of a robbery at the business about
11:30 a.m. encountered the men as they escaped from both sides of the
building. The men swapped gunfire with the officers as they scattered,
"but by the grace of God, no one was hit," Chief Nate Harper said.

Officer Bristow, among the first to arrive, found Mr. Farrow inside
a gold van on Riversea Road, an alley near the store. She ordered him
out of the vehicle, police said, but he put it in reverse instead and
struck her with an open door, knocking her to the ground. He drove
forward and tried to hit her again as another officer opened fire on
the van, shattering the windshield, police said. Mr. Farrow was treated
at Allegheny General Hospital for minor wounds he suffered from the
broken glass.

Officers fatally shot a dog in the alley. The chief said the dog
charged at officers, who fired to "eliminate the threat" that it would
hurt them.

Officers saw Mr. Allison toss a gun as he ran, Cmdr. Brackney said;
a police dog caught him. Police discovered Mr. Jones hiding in a nearby
Dumpster.

A SWAT team assembled amid the chaos because police at first
believed two of the gunmen had holed up in a scrap yard next door. SWAT
officers spent about three hours searching Paul Warhola Scrap Metals,
owner Marty Warhola said, but found no suspects. Mr. Warhola spent the
time in his cramped office, watching the search on his security
cameras. He said police planned to return to review the images in their
search for clues.

A fourth gunman darted to a gas station on Brighton Road and ordered
two men out of a rented silver 2010 Dodge Charger at gunpoint. He took
off in the car, which police recovered in Manchester with blood on the
driver's side door. The victims told police their assailant was
bleeding from the arm, but Cmdr. Brackney said she couldn't speculate
on whether he was shot by police gunfire.

Steve Burton, who said he was driving the Charger, pulled up to a
gas pump and went inside to pre-pay. When he headed back out, his
passenger ran toward him in a panic, saying a man had taken the car at
gunpoint. Neither man was hurt.

Police described the carjacking suspect only as a thin black man
between 5 and 6 feet tall. They are looking for at least one other man,
for whom they offered no description.

"We're still obtaining a search warrant to find out exactly what the operation was," Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki said.

Almost immediately, police knew the heist wasn't a "normal robbery,"
with one or two suspects. Police aren't sure how much marijuana was
hidden in the business, but "it must be a large amount because
apparently there was a trail of it," Chief Harper said.

"That's what we think this was about –– the drugs or drug money that
was in the business. It's not that they had the finest jewelry or fur
coats. It was because of the illegal actions taking place inside."

Detectives will try to learn more about the business, which in July
2005 was the scene of the critical shooting of a 16-year-old Perry High
School student who was working at the store for his mother. He had been
overseeing her beauty supply business.

The morning commotion drew scores of onlookers to Brighton Road, a
crowded North Side thoroughfare, and they snapped photos with their
cell phones as the SWAT team prepared to enter the scrap yard.

Some on the street said they had seen the gunmen running down the street moments earlier, chased by officers and police dogs.

Standing on nearby North Taylor Avenue, Eric Vernon said he was
distraught that officers had killed the dog, Lady, a pit bull-boxer mix
belonging to his brother-in-law, who was working on a car inside a
garage near the scrap yard when officers ordered him out. Gunmen, he
said, ran into the garage shortly later.

"Lady was very friendly," Mr. Vernon said. "There was no need."

Tony Imburgia, manager of Allegheny Refrigeration, was inside his
building on Brighton Road when he heard employees yelling about police
carrying guns across the street.

From a window, he could see a brown van backing swiftly down
Riversea Road. It stopped and then hurtled forward toward Brighton Road.

"The police jumped in front of his van," Mr. Imburgia said,
describing the scene from the rooftop of his building. "There were at
least four cops shooting at him."

The van crashed into a police car and a trailer alongside the Swap Meet.

The store's owner couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday night.