Dec. 17--An off-duty Buffalo police officer suffered critical injuries Friday in a one-car, early morning crash in which his vehicle flipped over at least once, authorities said.
Officer Anthony L. Douglas, 57, was taken to Erie County Medical Center, where family members and fellow police officers were holding a vigil by his bedside in the intensive care unit.
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Update (10:25 a.m. Saturday): Douglas remains in critical condition in ECMC. Some police officers have speculated he may have suffered some kind of medical emergency before the crash.
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The crash, partially recorded on a police surveillance camera, occurred at 4:23 a.m. on Main Street near the intersection of Depew Avenue, police said.
Douglas was driving southbound when his car suddenly veered right, then left and into a center traffic median on Main Street.
"Our hopes and prayers are with the officer and his family," Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda said late Friday. "It has to be particularly hard at this time of the year with the holidays coming."
Derenda stressed that the accident remains under investigation, while other officers have speculated that Douglas may have experienced some type of medical emergency.
Douglas, a 29-year veteran of the police force, returned to work just last week after an extended sick leave for a previous work-related back injury. He is an accident investigator.
Several hours before the accident, the officer had been called into work on overtime for a drunken driving investigation that ended in the arrest of a Black Rock man whose blood alcohol content registered 4 1/2 times the state's threshold for driving while intoxicated.
A Breathalyzer test administered by Douglas at Buffalo Police Headquarters determined that David A. Maciejewski, 64, of Howell Avenue, had a blood-alcohol level of .36. In order to be charged with DWI, an individual must have a minimum alcohol reading of .08.
Northwest District officers sought Douglas' assistance after Maciejewski drove his 2000 Mitsubishi across the lawn of a Black Rock church, then parked the vehicle on the first block of nearby Howell, a few doors from his residence.
As for Douglas, police said they do not know where he was headed when he lost control of his vehicle, but added there were no signs of alcohol involved in the crash.
Douglas suffered severe internal injuries and remained unconscious at ECMC throughout Friday.
Maciejewski previously was convicted of driving while intoxicated on Sept. 12, 2005, police said. In this latest incident, he was charged with aggravated drunken driving and criminal mischief for allegedly damaging the lawn of the church at Amherst and Peter streets.
During attempts to perform field sobriety tests, police said, Maciejewski had to be assisted in remaining upright.
Copyright 2011 - The Buffalo News, N.Y.
