By Amanda Codispoti
The Roanoke Times
ROANOKE, Va. — The Roanoke police officer was still inside his cruiser, smashed into the corner of a vacant house, when flames erupted from the engine compartment. From across the street, another officer ran toward the flaming, smoking cruiser and called for backup.
“It’s one of ours! It’s one of ours!” nearby resident Patrice Lee heard the officer yelling into his police radio. He helped the injured officer out of the cruiser. Lee couldn’t see how the officers then made it to safety because the smoke was so thick, she said. Then, the officer used a fire extinguisher to subdue the flames.
The injured officer, A.P. Gregware, was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries and released, police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson said. He’d been on his way to help another officer in pursuit of a vehicle “engaged in suspicious activity” about 4 a.m. Sunday when he lost control of his cruiser and crashed into the vacant house on the corner of 10th Street and Fairfax Avenue Northwest, Johnson said.
The police department is investigating the cause of the crash. The name of the officer who helped Gregware from the cruiser was not available Sunday. Lee, awakened by the booming sound of the crash, said the officer’s actions were heroic. “Whoever the cop was, he was really on his job,” she said.
The owner of the vacant home, Juan Maldonado, said he bought the house in July and was fixing it up for his daughter. He’d bought new windows, new kitchen cabinets, a new heat pump, and had built a new deck, he said. A city code inspector will have to assess the house to determine whether it is structurally sound, but Maldonado believes the foundation was badly damaged. “It might have to be torn down,” he said.
Copyright 2010 The Roanoke Times