Texter hits patrol car

RIGBY, Idaho – Police say a 22-year-old eastern Idaho driver was looking at a text message on his phone when he hit a sheriff’s deputy’s parked patrol car.

Brian J. Anderson, of Idaho Falls, was treated Tuesday for non-life-threatening injuries. The Idaho State Police said Anderson was traveling on U.S. Route 20 north of Rigby when the crash occurred.

Police say Anderson was looking at a text message on his phone when he drove into the back of a patrol car parked on the side of the road. The Idaho State Journal reports that the Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy was not in the patrol car at the time. The vehicle’s lights were flashing to alert drivers to a fire in the median of the road.

Anderson was cited for inattentive driving.

Idaho lawmakers this year made Idaho the 39th state to ban texting while driving, but the new law doesn’t take effect until July 1.

Staff and wire reports