A Federal Way police officer is on administrative leave after he struck a masked, armed suspect with his patrol vehicle on July 14.

The 18-year-old suspect was booked into jail for first-degree robbery after recently getting out of the hospital for minor, non-life-threatening injuries. He’s suspected of robbing a drug dealer selling marijuana.

The patrol officer stopped the drug-deal-gone-bad at 1 p.m. that day when he saw the man dart from the Dumas Bay Centre toward him, carrying a handgun. According to Federal Way police, the uniformed patrol officer was driving a fully marked police car on Dash Point Road in the 3200 block.

Believing an armed robbery had just occurred, the officer hit the suspect with his car. Another 18-year-old joined the suspect but fled on foot when he saw the officer. The second man was located nearby by other police officers and taken into custody for questioning. He has since been arrested, according to Deputy Chief Kyle Sumpter.

No shots were fired and the officer was uninjured, although two handguns were recovered at the scene. The suspect who was hit was transported to a local hospital. Sumpter said there was no broken bones and nothing severe.

Police are no longer searching for the drug dealer the suspect allegedly stole from.

Sumpter said the drug dealer not arrested, however, prosecution for illegally dealing marijuana is still a viable option for police, which would equate to a misdemeanor criminal offense.

It’s unclear whether the suspect pointed the gun at the officer before he was hit, as Federal Way police have yet to interview the patrol officer, however, Sumpter said, “it would not matter, we train our officers not to wait for the pointing because then it would be too late.”

Both suspects’ last known address is in Federal Way and are known to police in the area, Sumpter said.