Video of the collision shows a light-colored sedan move through the intersection at Olive and 20th streets at what appears to be a normal speed. It makes impact with a speeding police SUV near its rear wheel. The police SUV then skids and begins rolling over. It ends up a block away, by 21st Street, flipped over.
Fortunately, the officers in the vehicle suffered only minor injuries and were released from the hospital last night.
The video does not clearly show which vehicle involved in the crash had a green light and which was running a red. The officers involved were heading to a call in the Central West End, according to KSDK. Their vehicle's lights were on.
This collision comes on the heels of two similar incidents last month.
On December 12, in north city, a police SUV collided with a Nissan at the intersection of St. Louis Avenue and Sarah Streets. The police vehicle's lights in that instance were not on; it, too, ended up upside-down.
About a week later, in the early hours of December 18, two probationary officers behind the wheel of a police SUV slammed into Bar:PM on South Broadway. Police then took the co-owner of that bar, Chad Morris, into custody. After public outcry, the charges against Morris were reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.
It was later revealed that the police SUV that hit the bar had run a red light a few seconds before. Its sirens were not on.
In that crash, officers at the scene reportedly stated they rammed into the bar after swerving to miss a dog. The department then stated that the officers were swerving to miss a parked car. Finally, the department said that the crash was caused by an officer being distracted by the car's radio and then swerving to miss that parked car.
Photos from the scene yesterday were captured by Aaron Bunse of Studio DVLP and used with permission.
UPDATE: A little before noon today, the SLMPD released additional information about yesterday's crash.
According to the police incident report, the crash involved a total of four vehicles. In addition to the police SUV, the report says that the crash involved a 2004 Toyota Camry driven by a 75-year-old man, a 2015 Dodge Charger driven by a 23-year-old man riding with a 40-year-old female passenger, and a 2020 Infinity QX60 driven by a 40-year-old man.
The driver of the police SUV was a 30-year-old officer who had been on the force less than a year. The passenger was a 24-year-old officer with a year's experience.
Similarly, both officers involved in the Bar:PM crash last month had relatively little time on the force. Both were probationary officers who had been with the department less than a year.
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