OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A police officer has suffered minor injuries and two men in the vehicle that hit his squad car were also injured when their vehicle crashed a few blocks away.

Omaha police say the two men were in a sport utility vehicle that rear-ended Officer Phillip Hodges’ squad car around 3:40 a.m. Friday in north Omaha. The SUV sped off, with other officers chasing it, before it crashed into a utility pole and another vehicle a few blocks away.

Hodges was treated at an Omaha hospital for minor injuries.

Both men in the SUV were hospitalized, including the man believed to be driving, who was thrown from the vehicle and critically injured. Police say he will be charged once he’s released from the hospital.

WYMORE, Neb. (AP) — City officials say Russell Kirkpatrick no longer is chief of the Wymore Police Department.

A news release signed by Mayor Daniel Guenther says Kirkpatrick’s last day as chief was Wednesday. The release says there won’t be any further comment about the situation, “because this is a personnel matter.”

It’s unclear whether Kirkpatrick resigned or was fired. City offices are closed for the holiday.

The city of around 1,400 people is in southeast Nebraska’s Gage County.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha airport officials say lit sky lanterns that float into the sky are pretty, but they also pose a danger to airplanes.

Tim Schmitt is operations manager at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield, and he says concerns about the colored lanterns rise on the Independence Day weekend. Schmitt said the lanterns can be ingested by aircraft engines or end up littering runways.

Schmitt says that on the Fourth of July last year, airport workers picked up more than 100 of the sky lanterns on the airfield.

Schmitt is asking people not to release the lanterns within five miles of the airport, which sits on the east side of Omaha, next to the Missouri River.

YORK, Neb. (AP) — A man has told York police that he was injured by lit fireworks thrown through an open window of his moving car.

The incident occurred around 11 a.m. Wednesday in the East Hill Park neighborhood.

Police Chief Don Klug says the man reported suffering facial burns. The man says he doesn’t know who threw the fireworks but did notice some children in the area.

Crime Stoppers has offered a reward of up to $100 for information leading to an arrest.