Body camera footage shows officer forced off SW Fwy to avoid suspected drunk driver
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Body camera footage shows the harrowing moment a Houston police officer was forced off of an overpass to avoid a suspected drunk driver who came crashing into the scene of an earlier accident.
"I hear a screech of the tires...Before I knew it, there was a car right up on me. The headlights were facing right on me. I had less than a second to react to the situation," Officer Roshad Carter said in a pre-recorded message from his bed.
"If I would have frozen still, the car would have run me over and probably would have taken my life," he added.
VIDEO: Officer Carter's full remarks
In the footage from Carter's body camera, which some may find disturbing, an audible tire screech precedes the moment of impact. Carter let out a gut-wrenching scream as he went over the side of the freeway, and continued screaming in pain from the grassy area beneath the roadway where he landed on his back.
"I jumped in the air. The car hit me on my side. I was able to reach out to the concrete wall and propel myself over the wall," Carter added. "I just kept thinking to myself, 'When am I going to stop falling?'"
Carter's mother, Debra, watched tearfully as Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo presented the footage to the media for the first time.
VIDEO: Officer Carter's raw body camera footage
"I hadn't seen the video like that before," she said. "I'm just amazed. God is good, God is real. God saved my son. He's here for a reason."
Acevedo hoped that, in addition to underscoring the dangers of drunk driving, the footage would teach other motorists to move their car off of the freeway after a crash.
"So many Texans die from secondary crashes because we think that we are in a safe environment. Every tenth vehicle is someone that is impaired in some way," he said. "When you're involved in a crash, if possible, take the car off to the first exit to a safe, well-lit location and call 911."
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