In an effort to save gasoline, the county has suggested that when we have more officers working than there are beats, that we double up in a car. Precinct 4 has eight beats, so if we had nine people working that day, we would have a car that just kind of roamed where they wanted, helping when they could. Yesterday we had an extra person so my friend Matt and I got to ride in the same car. We tried not to goof off too much. After we helped Precinct 3 look for an armed robbery suspect, we were headed back to our area when we witnessed a terrible accident. We were headed northeast on Terrell Mill Road approaching Bentley Road. It had been raining off and on throughout the day, and was sprinkling at the time. As we approached the intersection, a white Chevy Blazer was coming towards us in the center turn lane. The Blazer made a very sharp turn as if to beat traffic and turn onto Turnberry Lane. I was riding in the passenger seat, and began to tell Matt to pull the guy over. He was thinking the same thing, and started braking.

But that’s when things started to go terribly wrong. I noticed that the Blazer was not actually turning onto Turnberry Lane. Instead, it struck the curb, which launched it into the air. Due to the angle that it struck, it twisted in the air. The Blazer then struck the two utility poles that were at the corner. The passenger side door made contact with the poles. The car fell the ground in a ditch. Matt stopped the car, and told the dispatcher what was going on as I jumped out of the car. I ran around the car and reached in through what used to be the windshield. The passenger side door was touching the driver’s seat. 

The driver wasn’t moving. I poked him in the ribs, yelling at him. He didn’t respond. I didn’t see him breathing. His arm was laying out of the car so I checked for a pulse. I couldn’t find one.

Suddenly, his arm moved. I grabbed his hand and he grabbed back. He moaned, and I asked him if he was ok. He said he was ok and asked if he could get up. I told him not to move until the ambulance got there.

Once backup arrived and the fire department got there with extraction tools, I started working on the accident report. I measured tire marks, and damage on the poles. Damage on the utility poles reached seven feet high. 

Rescue Air 1 landed in a parking lot nearby. The driver was loaded up and flown to a nearby hospital. Amazingly, he didn’t have any broken bones or serious injuries. He walked out of the hospital and into a police car which took him to jail for Driving Under the Influence, Reckless Driving, and Driving while Unlicensed.