Fort Worth police officer injured in car accident with drunken driver, authorities say
A Fort Worth police officer had to be cut out of his vehicle after a suspected drunken driver side-swiped the officer’s car and it hit a tree Wednesday night.
The incident occurred around 11:15 p.m. in east Fort Worth when multiple officers responded to a call involving a foot pursuit of an unrelated suspect, police said.
One of the officers began traveling westbound near the 3700 block of East Lancaster Avenue with the patrol car’s emergency lights and siren on.
“[The officer] was passing the suspect vehicle to that vehicle’s passenger side when the vehicle failed to yield to an emergency vehicle and turned into the left front portion of the patrol vehicle,” police said in a news release. “The impact forced the patrol unit to the right, where it exited the roadway and then impacted a tree, trapping the officer inside the vehicle.”
Other officers, who were following behind the patrol car, were able to alert the local fire department and MedStar for help.
“Fire Department personnel were required to extract the officer from the vehicle before treatment could be administered,” the release said. “The officer was transported to John Peter Smith Hospital in an unknown condition for medical treatment.”
A spokesperson from the police department said the officer is recovering from the crash, but they will “not be releasing his name at this time.”
Authorities also said the suspected drunken driver, identified in a police report as Celso Liquies Malia, 27, of Fort Worth, fled the scene.
He was found a short time later.
“[The suspect] indicated signs of intoxication and an officer from the Driving While Intoxicated Unit arrived to administer a standardized field sobriety evaluation,” police said, adding that the Malia was arrested on suspicion of intoxication assault and leaving the scene of an accident.
The investigation remains ongoing.
This story was originally published August 4, 2022 at 7:09 AM.
