'Sounded Like An Explosion': 2 Officers Almost Struck By Suspected Drunk Driver
GRAND PRAIRIE (CBSDFW.COM) - Two Grand Prairie police officers are sharing a message on Thursday after a violent crash. Dash cam video captured the moment a suspected drunk driver hit one of their cruisers.
"It sounded like an explosion," said Officer Keidrick Wilson.
He and Officer Jonathan Wallace were 20 feet away. They jumped over a guardrail to avoid getting crushed.
"My car got destroyed, but if I hadn't been there, it could've been Officer Wilson or the stranded motorists or the wrecker driver. There's a lot of people that could've been hurt because of that," said Wallace.
On Sunday, at around 10 p.m., Officer Wilson was helping a stranded motorist change a flat tire on I-20 and Belt Line Road. He said an uneasy feeling prompted him to request back-up.
"Before he got there, I was going through the trunk of that car, trying to get a spare tire as cars were whizzing by at 80, 90 miles per hour," said Wilson.
The impact was so powerful that it nearly sent the squad car into a parked tow truck.
Police said the woman behind the wheel had a blood alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit. Aside from the driver, no one else was hurt.
"The female that we were there for initially was on the side of the road crying and shaken up," said Wallace.
What's left of his squad car is broken bits of metal and smashed windows.
The department hopes the video is a lesson in the dangers of drunk driving.
"I'm definitely thankful. You can't think about all the what-if's if Officer Wallace had been siting in his squad car. Maybe it would've been the stranded motorists. We don't know," said Wilson.
The accused drunk driver has serious injuries and will be charged with driving while intoxicated once she recovers.