By Police1 Staff
BALTIMORE, Md. — A police officer died and four firefighters were injured when the cop’s patrol car crashed into a stationary fire truck in Baltimore Wednesday.
Tommy Portz, a 10-year veteran and married father of three, died of cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead en route to the trauma center, according to The Baltimore Sun.
The four firefighters were taken to the hospital, but none sustained life-threatening injuries.
The fire truck had been dispatched to the area of Calhoun and Franklin streets after a call of an injured person, the newspaper reported. When the firefighters could not locate the person, they stopped to ask a film crew if they had any information on the emergency call.
Shortly after, Officer Portz crashed into the parked engine, destroying the front end of his vehicle. The key grip from the film crew rushed to extract Portz from the car.
Officer Portz is the third active city officer killed in less than a month, according to the report. It’s not clear whether he was responding to a call or had his lights and sirens activated.
“Officer Portz was known to all of us, a really lovable guy,” said Anthony Guglielmi, the police department’s chief spokesman. “He was very funny, and had a great sense of humor.”