Lawrence police officer 'lucky' to be alive after being dragged 2 blocks during traffic stop

Here at the live alert desk, a critically injured Lawrence police officer is improving after being dragged by a runaway driver on Tuesday night. This is Officer Ariel Cruz. His chief revealing this afternoon he is recovering from major injuries that include a fractured spine, broken ribs, kidney trauma, and severe head trauma. We are so lucky that he's alive. It's really, it's a blessing, nothing short of that, it's a miracle. That is Chief Maurice Aguilar there saying that Officer Cruz is improving and now out of the ICU. We've also learned the suspect, Hector Rivera, is being held in Salem, New Hampshire pending extradition back to Massachusetts. The chief says during Tuesday's traffic stop, Rivera was in the passenger seat when Officer Cruz discovered he had to arrest warrants for domestic violence. The chief says a struggle broke out when Cruz opened the door to arrest him and Rivera jumped to the driver's seat. As Mr. Rivera, the suspect, tried to go over, he grabbed his shirt, at some point he got to run, at some point out of the vehicle. Again, once Mr. Rivera gets on the side, he speeds off and Officer Cruz was partially in and out of the vehicle at that time. Officer Cruz was dragged about two blocks before he was thrown out of that vehicle. The chief says Rivera has a lengthy criminal history. He is expected to be charged with assault with intent to murder.