Police: Close call for officer after speeding teen driver loses control of car in Fairfax Co.
Being a police officer is a dangerous job and a crash yesterday in Fairfax County demonstrated how dangerous, after a crash involving a police traffic stop.
Being a police officer is a dangerous job, and a crash during a traffic stop Monday in Fairfax County, Virginia, demonstrated how much.
It was shortly before noon Monday, when an officer pulled a driver over on the Fairfax County Parkway.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, as the officer and driver spoke and gathered information, a teenager in a BMW M3 going more than 120 mph in the opposite direction lost control, jumped the median and struck the stopped car head-on.
“The vehicle lost control because cars can’t go that fast on the on the highway,” said Fairfax County Police, Deputy Chief Bob Blakley.
In video of the crash captured by the officer’s dash cam, the officer can be seen running from the passenger side of the stopped car. He narrowly avoiding becoming pinned between the two vehicles.
Blakley said watch the video, what sticks out for him is what happened to the guardrail that the officer was just standing in front of, before the crash.
“I mean, it must crush that guardrail, three to five feet,” Blakley said.
The county’s police chief Kevin Davis said he realized how fortunate the officer and the department was when he was able to watch the video.
“When we all saw it, I realized we realize how how lucky we were,” Davis said.
The police department said that miraculously, the crash only resulted in minor injuries. Both the driver of the car that was stopped and the officer were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The three teenager in the car that caused the crash also only had minor injuries.
Davis said this video will be used to train new police officers on staying safe during traffic stops, with the officers decision to approach the car on the passenger side and his decision to run and not freeze, both potentially saving the officer’s life.
Both Davis and Blakley also hope this can be a learning moment for young drivers and their parents, about the dangers of what can happen when racing down a roadway. According to the department compared to last year, this year it has seen a 62% increase in the number of tickets handed out to your drivers for speeding and up 98% when it comes to teens violating road signs and signals. Blakley also said the number of citations given to teens for not paying attention behind the wheel is up 181%
He said it can also be food for thought for parents as they car shop for their child’s first vehicle.
“The car involved in that collision yesterday was a whole lot of car, a whole lot of car for an inexperienced driver,” Davis said.
Police said the teen, high-school-age driver who was accused of causing the crash has been charged with reckless driving.
The department is not identifying the officer, but did say the 13-year veteran is out of the hospital and at home.
“He’s just glad to be alive and hopefully home relaxing with a lottery ticket in his pocket,” Davis said.
Source: WTOP
