Police shot a man yesterday during a wild traffic stop on Staten Island, authorities said.
An officer and two detectives from the gang unit approached the suspect’s car while it sat in traffic at 1:15 p.m. in Castleton Corners after learning he had a weapon, police said.
The driver, who sources identified as career criminal Clinton James, 33, reached for a weapon while stepping on the gas to escape, pinning one of the detectives against another car at Manor Road and North Gannon Avenue, cops said.
The officer then fired three times into the car, hitting James twice, law-enforcement sources said.
The wounded man drove five blocks in his white Toyota and hit several other cars, before he crashed into a pole and flipped over at Clermont Place, said the sources.
“The guy came crawling out the passenger side,” said one 49-year-old witness. “He started staggering, he looked back and then started to run down North Gannon.”
The cops ran after James and tackled him.
James was expected to survive his gunshot wound after surgery at Richmond University Medical Center.
Police said they recovered a loaded .44 caliber Taurus handgun from his car.
The incident was at least the eighth police-involved shooting in the city this year.