2 N.C. Police Officers among 3 People Injured in Fatal Car Crash

Aug. 22, 2024

A camper fatally struck a person speaking with Charlotte-Mecklenburg police on the shoulder of an interstate and crashed into two cruisers, trapping an officer inside one of the vehicles.

By Jeff A. Chamer

Source The Charlotte Observer

One person is dead and three people were hurt, including Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers, in a car crash Thursday morning in northwest Charlotte.

The crash occurred on the shoulder of the Interstate 485 off ramp at Mt. Holly Road, where CMPD officers were working with someone who reported a vehicle they believed to be stolen, Maj. Ryan Butler said at a press conference.

Butler said the person who made the stolen vehicle call was standing on the shoulder of the exit ramp speaking to the officers when a motorist driving a camper took the exit and struck and killed the person. The camper also crashed into two police vehicles, Butler said.

The camper and one of the police vehicles containing a trapped police officer were pushed off the embankment to the wood line. The Charlotte Fire Department removed the trapped officer from his vehicle and took him to the hospital for treatment, he said.

“That officer is conscious and alert,” Butler said. “He has sustained some internal injuries. They continue to do some testing to determine the extent of those injuries, but again, he is conscious and alert and in good spirits, considering the severity of the collision.”

The driver of the camper also was removed from the vehicle and taken the hospital for evaluation. The driver was conscious and alert and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, Butler said. He said he didn’t know the driver’s age.

A second officer was taken the hospital and released with only minor injuries.

Identities of those involved haven’t been released.

No charges have been announced, but it is being investigated as vehicular homicide, Butler said.

“I can’t tell you what all the conditions were, or what the list of factors that led to this unfortunate incident was,” Butler said. “But I can assure you that the major crash unit and our crime scene unit will be extremely thorough in trying to capture this moment in time to ensure that, to the extent that we can, provide the victim justice.”

A CMPD alert said traffic was still flowing in both directions on I-485.

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