By Nassim Benchaabane
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
HAZELWOOD, Mo. — A police officer was in critical condition after he was struck by another car just before 5 p.m. Thursday while responding to a call for aid.
The officer was westbound on Dunn Road when a woman driving the opposite direction tried to make a left turn into the Village Square Shopping Center and struck the officer’s passenger side, said Sgt. Al Nothum of the Missouri Highway Patrol. The site is at the northwest corner of Dunn and Interstate 270.
The officer’s vehicle was hit with enough force that it landed on its roof on the side of the road, Nothum said. Emergency responders had to pull the officer from the car. He was airlifted to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
The other driver was not injured and cooperated with investigating officers, Nothum said.
The officer was responding to another officer’s call for aid at the time of the crash.
Sheanell Brandy said she was two cars behind the officer on Dunn Road when the collision occurred. She said the lights and siren on the officer’s car had just been activated when his car and the second one crashed.
The patrol car landed just inches from a huge sign for the shopping center.
“When their cars hit, his went flying and for him not to have hit another car, that sign was by the grace of God,” Brandy said.
She and at least one other motorist ran to the aid of the officer. The other motorist also went to comfort a child who was in the other car.