2 HPD officers injured in series of crashes on I-45 in SE Houston
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A Houston police officer was put on a stretcher and taken to the hospital and a second officer was also hurt after their patrol unit was hit twice overnight.
It happened around 11:30 p.m. Sunday on the I-45 Gulf Freeway near Park Place Boulevard in southeast Houston.
One officer is still at Memorial Hermann Hospital with minor injuries after the overnight crashes.
In total, two officers and two civilians were injured in both crashes.
Video from the scene shows one of the officers being loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher.
The two officers were inside one police vehicle, headed to an accident scene on the Gulf Freeway.
The accident was on the left shoulder of the northbound lanes. When the officers arrived, they turned on their emergency lights and used their police car to block off the two closest lanes to the accident.
According to investigators, a car was going too fast on I-45 and ended up slamming into the back of the police vehicle, pushing it into the third lane of traffic, where a second vehicle hit the police car again.
"So because of the injuries, the officers were transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital where we are at right now, and also the other two drivers," Assistant Chief Yasar Bashir said. "The other two vehicles, they were also transported for their injuries. Both the striking vehicle and the HPD vehicle, the airbags were deployed."
Investigators are working to determine if either of the drivers were impaired.
