A Christmas Day crash in Ohio nearly became fatal as a truck lost control and slammed into a patrol car, narrowly avoiding an officer who was standing to the side, footage released Tuesday showed.
A Willoughby police officer was watching oncoming traffic while assisting the driver of a Kia sedan who had been in a car accident due to road conditions, Cleveland19 reported.
The officer saw an out-of-control vehicle hurling towards him, provoking him to run over to the cement wall along the median strip. A Toyota Tundra then plowed into a police cruiser, causing debris to fly across the camera as the truck spiraled along the highway, video shows. The incent occurred on the SR-2 Eastbound highway at around 11:15 a.m., according to the outlet.
A woman who claimed to have been in front of the truck said that there was “pure black ice” where the vehicle lost control, she stated in a comment on the Willoughby Police Department Facebook page.
Driver nearly hits cop, smashes into police cruiser on Ohio highway https://t.co/IpV2zenKwx pic.twitter.com/eijoeJx6Yb
— New York Post (@nypost) December 28, 2022
Following the incident, both the patrol car and the Tundra accrued “disabling damage,” though nobody was injured, Cleveland19 noted. The officer cited the truck’s 63-year-old driver for failure to control. He was also given a court appearance on a later date, according to the outlet. (RELATED: Police Arrest Suspect For Bus Bombing That Injured Two Americans)
Just two days prior, Ohio weather conditions caused a 50-car pile-up along the intersection of State Route 53 and Route 4 of Sandusky county, Ohio.