The Baltimore Sun
ARUNDEL, Md. — A 21-year-old Crofton man has been charged with driving drunk after his vehicle slammed into a police officer investigating another case of suspected drunken driving, Anne Arundel County police said this morning.
Officer Alex Swartz, a three-year veteran of the force, sustained injuries to his lower body and legs after David Gregory’s Saturn Ion hit the driver’s side door of the police cruiser shortly before 2:30 a.m. Saturday. The door was struck so hard that it was pushed 180 degrees toward the front of the car, crushing it against the front fender, police said.
Swartz, 36, was taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center for treatment. A Crofton police officer and a county police officer who were helping Swartz at the time quickly arrested Gregory.
Swartz had pulled over another Crofton man a few minutes earlier on Riedel Road at Notely Lane on suspicion of drunken driving, police said. That man was in the front seat of Swartz’s patrol car, and his female passenger was standing alongside it at the time of the crash.
The cruiser bumped into her when it was hit, but she was not hurt. It is not clear if they face charges.
Neither Gregory nor his passenger, car owner Shelby Ann Estep of Gambrills, was hurt, police said.
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