North Texas Officer Escapes Serious Injury After Speeding Car Hits Culvert, Goes Airborne
WILMER, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - A Wilmer Police officer came within only a few seconds of being seriously injured or killed early Wednesday morning.
An out-of-control car went airborne off a freeway and came within inches of slamming into the officer's patrol car which captured the extremely close call on its dash cam.
Dash cam video obtained by CBS 11 News shows a close call for a Wilmer Police officer. An out of control car went airborne and crashed into a utility pole that fell on the patrol car. The officer said the thought it was a tornado. The driver survived and officer escaped injury pic.twitter.com/HrqRdCbPOr
— J.D. Miles (@jdmiles11) February 20, 2019
That car that Wilmer Police said was speeding left the road on I-45 taking out everything in its path.
Sergeant Carl Laza was finishing up a night patrolling Wilmer neighborhoods when his dash cam recorded a speeding car becoming airborne and slamming into a utility pole which fell on and damaged Laza's patrol car.
Fellow officers say Laza told them the car passed by so fast he didn't even see it.
Laza narrowly escaped injury and the driver of the 2018 Audi that crashed was hospitalized with what police say are non-life threatening injuries.
"All of a sudden it happened within two or three seconds when you look at the video and thankfully he was calm enough to call it out and make sure he backed up to avoid any injuries," said Wilmer Police Sgt. William Jackson.
Wilmer Police still haven't determined what caused the crash or whether the driver will be charged once he is released from the hospital.
"I think it was a close call with my sergeant," said Jackson. "Uou can be in the wrong place the wrong time."