A Quad-City police officer suffered serious injuries late Monday morning after his squad car was struck by a stolen garbage truck near Buffalo.

The driver has been charged with attempted murder and other crimes.

Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane said the officer, later identified as Buffalo Police Chief Terry "TJ" Behning, who was not in his vehicle at the time of the collision, was airlifted to University Hospitals, Iowa City.

Lane fought back tears during an interview with reporters near the scene of the accident.

"Everybody in town is worried about our police chief," said Buffalo City Council member Olin Meador. "He's that good of a guy."

Two men were taken into custody in connection with the incident, Lane said, adding one of the men had been under investigation by the Davenport Police Department for a “serious stalking issue, where it was predetermined that this person definitely needed to be brought into custody" and as a result, police began pursuing a pickup truck.

In a post to its Facebook page Monday night, the Buffalo Police Department said the driver, Logan Jeffery Shoemaker, 20, has been charged.

According to the criminal complaint, in addition to the charge of attempted murder, a Class B felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of up to 25 years, Shoemaker is charged with one count each of second-degree theft, felony eluding, serious injury by vehicle, stalking and two counts of second-degree criminal mischief. Each of those additional charges is a Class D felony that carries a prison sentence of up to five years. He also is charged with one count of assault while displaying a dangerous weapon, an aggravated misdemeanor that carries a prison sentence of up to two years.

According to online Scott County Jail records, Shoemaker was booked at 6:36 p.m.

During the pursuit, Shoemaker's pickup was involved in a crash with a garbage truck. He threatened the life of the driver of the garbage truck, and ultimately took possession of it, according to Buffalo police.

Shoemaker continued to lead officers on a pursuit in the garbage truck through Blue Grass, then south on 70th Avenue toward Buffalo. On 40th Avenue (County Road Y40), Behning was attempting to utilize stop sticks against the garbage truck.

Shoemaker veered the truck toward Behning's squad car and struck it head-on, according to Buffalo police.

Behning was positioned behind the squad at this time and was struck by the squad car, according to Buffalo police.

Shoemaker was arrested moments later.

Behning’s condition was unknown Monday night.

The Iowa State Patrol is investing the traffic incident, while the Davenport Police Department and the Scott County Sheriff's Office are handling the criminal investigation.

After the incident, Shoemaker was taken to a Quad-City hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, Lane said.

He did not know how fast the pickup was driving at the time of the initial pursuit.

Lane said the truck belongs to Republic Services and was being used for business purposes in that area.

(Tara Becker and Tom Geyer contributed to this story.)

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Jack Cullen Jack Cullen covers health and the outdoors for the Quad-City Times. Follow Jack Cullen Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today