Police Officer Recovering After Accident On Route 65
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A Pittsburgh police officer is recovering from injuries she suffered in an accident while helping a stranded motorist along Route 65 Monday morning.
The driver of the SUV is telling police that he was looking in his rearview mirror, trying to get into the left lane, and the next thing he knew he'd rear-ended the officer's police cruiser.
Pittsburgh Police Lt. Michael Piasecki says the injured officer "will be going home to recover there. They found no broken bones, no trauma to her spinal cord."
She was sore and bruised, but the Zone 1 officer survived the close call along Route 65 heading north before the McKees Rocks Bridge.
It began with a motorist running out of gas.
"An officer came up and blocked the lane to assist them," said Officer Ray Kain, the accident investigator.
While the first officer took the stranded motorist to get gas, officials say a second Zone 1 officer was called to the scene to alert drivers to the now empty, disabled car.
As she was sitting in her vehicle with flares burning in the road behind her and emergency lights rotating, she was rear-ended by a black Chevy SUV.
Accident investigators say she should have been seen from quarter-of-a-mile back.
"I have no idea why this vehicle did not see the flashing, rotating lights," said Officer Kain.
The police officer banged her head, but was alert and talking and taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital.
The driver of the SUV went to Allegheny General Hospital and was able to speak with police later on.
Investigators say the driver of the SUV was very cooperative and he was not impaired, but they are still considering the possibility of charges against him.
No names have been released.
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