Suspect injured when Durham officer's gun accidentally discharged

A suspect was injured by a bullet fragment when an officer’s gun accidentally discharged during an arrest, Durham police said Thursday.

Officers with the department’s Special Operations Division made an undercover drug buy late Wednesday, then stopped the suspects’ vehicle near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Bay Point Drive.

As the officers were trying to arrest the three men, the gun discharged. Police said a bullet fragment struck Jeffrey L. Hunter, 34, of South Roxboro Street in Durham.

Hunter and the two other men - identified as Jarian Dowdy, 34, of University Drive in Durham, and Tony Moore, 25, of Green Lantern Street in Raleigh – drove away and led the officers on a short chase before crashing into another car at the intersection of Barbee Road and Uzzle Street, police said.

After the crash, the suspects jumped out of the car and ran. Officers chased and caught all three.

Hunter was treated and released from an area hospital. He was charged with four counts of trafficking in cocaine, possession of cocaine with the intent to manufacture, sell or deliver and resisting, delaying and obstructing law enforcement officials.

He was held in the Durham County jail under a $500,000 bond.

Dowdy and Moore were both charged with conspiracy to commit trafficking in cocaine, possession of cocaine with the intent to manufacture, sell or deliver and delaying and obstructing a government official.

Dowdy also was charged with sale and delivery of cocaine, and Moore also was charged with felony fleeing from law enforcement officials.

Both were held in Durham County jail under $150,000 bonds.

The driver of the other car involved in the crash was treated for minor injuries.