Texas Police Officer Injured after Drunk Driver Sideswipes Car

A Fort Worth police officer had to be extracted from his vehicle after a suspected drunk driver side-swiped the officer’s car and it collided into a tree Wednesday night.

The incident occurred around 11:15 p.m. in east Fort Worth when multiple officers began to report to a call involving a foot pursuit of an unrelated suspect, police said.

One of the responding officers began traveling westbound near the 3700 block of East Lancaster Avenue with their emergency lights and siren on.

“[The officer] was passing the suspect vehicle to that vehicle’s passenger side when the vehicle failed to yield to an emergency vehicle and turned into the left front portion of the patrol vehicle,” police said in a news release. “The impact forced the patrol unit to the right, where it exited the roadway and then impacted a tree, trapping the officer inside the vehicle.”

Other officers, who were following behind the patrol car, were able to alert the local fire department and MedStar for help.

“Fire Department personnel were required to extract the officer from the vehicle before treatment could be administered,” the release said. “The officer was transported to John Peter Smith Hospital in an unknown condition for medical treatment.”

Police said the suspect, who was not named in the news release but was described as a man, fled the scene.

He was found a short time later.

“[The suspect] indicated signs of intoxication and an officer from the Driving While Intoxicated Unit arrived to administer a standardized field sobriety evaluation,” police said, adding that the driver was later charged with intoxication assault and leaving the scene of an accident.

The investigation remains ongoing.

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