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A Spokane police officer was hospitalized with serious injuries Wednesday after a woman thought to be on drugs rear ended him, a police spokeswoman said.
Officer Jeff Graves is expected to survive injuries caused when Debra Hatcher, 54, rear ended his squad car on Maple Street just south of Sinto Avenue about 1 p.m., according to a news release. Graves was sitting in the driver’s seat of the car, which was stopped as he helped a citizen, police said.
Hatcher was thought to be under the influence of drugs and was arrested on a vehicular assault charge, police said.
Last year, 39 police officers died in car crashes in the United States, according to the news release.
“Citizens are reminded that in Washington State we have a “Move Over” law, requiring motorists approaching a stationary emergency vehicle on the side of the road or in a lane of travel to proceed with caution,” police said.
Reporter Meghann Cuniff writes about public safety news from the Inland Northwest and beyond.
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Rifleman__Dodd on November 04 at 7:55 p.m.
Looks like the copper could have parked properly on a side street.
biasedopinion on November 04 at 8:45 p.m.
….let’s go even further. Maybe he should have just not stopped to help the citizen.
Yeah that would have worked too.
BitofBacon on November 04 at 9:46 p.m.
The photograph of the police car shows it to be in the left lane of northbound Maple, which is definitely not a side street. Do you know how the officer was helping the citizen? Do you know that his car could have been moved off-kilter from its stopped position when it was struck by the other car? Do you know anything about police work? Let me help you out, the answer is “no”.
mikeschaffels on November 06 at 9:37 a.m.
Hello,
Let’s not lose sight of what happened here, ie. who hit who? While a police vehicle stopped in a traffic lane is not commonplace, it does occur. As drivers we have a responsibility to pay attention & to ‘expect the unexpected’. The odds are that Ms. Hatcher took meds that instructed her to not drive or operate machinery or that she might have taken too much. In any case, this is the fault of Hatcher, not the officer.
Mike