POLICE: Parking officer's hand crushed by driver trying to escape a 'boot'

SEATTLE -- A parking ticket scofflaw crushed the hand of a parking enforcement officer when he attempted to drive off in his Lexus while she was putting a boot on the car, police said Thursday.

The driver was arrested and booked him into the King County Jail for reckless endangerment, police said.

Medics transported the parking officer to the hospital, where she suffered at least one fracture and tendon damage, police said.

The incident occurred in the 2200 block of 1st Avenue in Belltown.

Two parking enforcement officers were working there when they spotted the suspect’s Lexus, which had previously accumulated at least four unpaid parking tickets.

When the PEOs pulled over and began placing a “boot” wheel clamp on the Lexus, the 57-year-old scofflaw — who, the police said, is well-known to the department’s parking enforcement team — walked over and hopped in the driver’s seat of the car.

After the PEOs told the suspect not to try to drive off, he put his Lexus into reverse and backed up, crushing one PEO’s hand between the clamp and one of the car’s tires, police said.