A Virginia police officer is recovering after a drunk driver crashed into his patrol car while he and another driver were being pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving.
According to Virginia State Police, Trooper C. Aziz was dispatched around 3 a.m. Tuesday to a sedan stopped in the northbound lanes of Interstate 495 in Fairfax County.
State police said the driver of the sedan was still in the vehicle and did not comply with troopers’ requests to exit or move the vehicle to a safer location.
While Aziz was dealing with the driver of the sedan, a Jeep Cherokee struck a tractor-trailer that had stopped in the travel lane where the sedan had stopped.
The Jeep struck a tractor-trailer, which spun and struck the officer’s patrol vehicle, which then struck a parked sedan and an officer who was standing outside the sedan’s driver’s side door.
Dashcam footage from the officer’s patrol car captured the incident and, amazingly, the officer escaped with only minor injuries, police said.
She was taken to Fairfax Inova Hospital to be examined.
The Jeep driver was identified as Joanna Hatch, 35.
Police say she was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.
Erica Bernard, 43, was the driver of a sedan that was stopped on the side of the interstate and was also arrested.
She is charged with driving under the influence of drugs, obstruction, possession of a Schedule 1 or 2 substance, refusal to submit to a breathalyzer/blood test and unlawful stopping of a vehicle on a highway.
Both Hatch and Bernard were transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.
