Sandy MaloneSt. Louis, MO – A suspected drunk driver with a two-year old in his vehicle slammed into police at the scene of another crash and sent five officers to the hospital, three of them with serious injuries.
The incident occurred at about 1:45 a.m. on March 29 on Interstate 270 in Maryland Heights, KMOV reported.
Authorities said that three Lake Saint Louis police officers and two St. Charles County police officers were at the scene of a crash that occurred when a suspect driving a stolen vehicle wrecked while fleeing police.
The officers were all members of an auto theft task force, the Associated Press reported.
The Missouri Highway Patrol (MHP) said the officers had patrol cars blocking two left lanes of the highway, with their lights flashing, as they waited for a tow truck to arrive to remove the crashed stolen car.
That was when a Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by a 31-year-old man approached and tried to swerve to avoid the law enforcement officers, the Associated Press reported.
The SUV struck a Lake Saint Louis police car so hard that one of the officers was ejected from it as it spun out of control and struck two Lake Saint Louis police officers.
All three Lake Saint Louis officers were seriously injured in the crash, the Associated Press reported.
The officers that were inside the St. Charles County police car were also hit but suffered less severe injuries than their Lake Saint Louis counterparts.
The wounded heroes ranged in age from 26 to 34, according to the Associated Press.
The 31-year-old driver was not hurt.
However, his two-year-old passenger suffered minor injuries in the crash and was transported to the hospital for treatment, the Associated Press reported.
The driver was arrested for suspicion of driving while intoxicated, child endangerment, driving with a suspended license, unlawful use of a weapon, and possession of a controlled substance, KMOV reported.
Officials have not yet released the identities of the wounded officers, nor have the provided any details of the medical conditions of the ones who were seriously hurt.
Police have also not yet publicly identified the driver who hit them.
— Lake Saint Louis Police (@LakeStLouisPD) March 29, 2023
Five police officers were hurt after a serious crash Wednesday morning. Three officers with Lake Saint Louis PD and two from St. Charles County, working in the Auto Task Force, were blocking two lanes of traffic when a dark Jeep hit them. @KMOV
— Shoshana Stahl (@shoshana_stahl) March 29, 2023
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Holly Matkin
