ST. LOUIS (KMOV) -- Two St. Louis police officers are recovering from injuries sustained in a crash Friday afternoon.
One of the officers sustained injuries to his wrist; the other had injuries to his abdomen and underwent surgery.
The officers were in a patrol car at South Broadway and Nebraska Avenue when a box truck speeding away from a suspected methamphetamine house crashed into them.
Agents with the Drug Enforcement Agency had been watching the house.
"We witnessed a number of individuals leaving the residence. We attempted to question a few of them," said DEA agent James Shroba.
Shroba said that's when 41-year-old Robert McLaughlin and another suspect raced away in the truck.
The two officers in their patrol car were stopped on Nebraska Avenue, but just moments before the accident, McLaughlin got out of the truck.
The other suspect came speeding down the road in the box truck.
The driver was arrested; McLaughlin was on the run, but was later arrested by authorities.
McLaughlin's escape triggered a manhunt through an area in south St. Louis, with police checking backyards and alleys and a police chopper circling above.
The DEA says McLaughlin is suspected of being involved in an ongoing meth production at a south St. Louis home.
A source tells News 4 a chemical was found in the truck as police worked the scene. It's not clear what the chemical was.
