N.C. Police Officer Thrown into Sinkhole when Semi Plows into Barricade
June 28, 2023
Fayetteville police were closing a road because of a rain-created sinkhole when a tractor-trailer crashed into a cruiser at the scene, and the impact pushed an officer into the hole.
A North Carolina police officer is recovering after he was thrown into a sinkhole early Tuesday in a chain-reaction crash that was started by a tractor-trailer barreling through a barricade.
The incident happened when Fayetteville police were called to close off a section of roadway in Cumberland County that had become "impassable" because of a sinkhole created by torrential rains overnight, WNCN-TV reports. Officers were directing traffic and trying to shut down the route when a tractor-trailer sped toward the barricaded area.
"When officers were attempting to close off the road … there was a vehicle that was driving too fast for conditions and actually struck the officers' cars as they were out there and pushed the officer into the hole," Police Chief Kern Braden told WRAL-TV.
The officer had been directing traffic when the crash happened, and the chain-reaction impact sent him into the sinkhole. Media members and another police officer helped the injured officer out of the sinkhole, and he was rushed to the hospital with injuries that weren't considered life-threatening.
The driver of the tractor-trailer faces charges of failure to reduce speed and traveling too fast for conditions. The tractor-trailer also fell into the sinkhole, and crews worked during the day to lift it out.
