Gladewater Officer Hit By Truck

[TexasAggieOfc]

http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11335377

Dashcam video on the link

A police officer makes a traffic stop on an East Texas highway and then is slammed by a passing truck.

Gladewater officer Mike Johnson had pulled over a van for having a headlight out on Highway 271 north of Gladewater when the truck hit him. With only inches between the two vehicles, the truck ran over the back of Johnson's legs.

"That was a heck of a hit. He's still hurting quite a bit, he's taking a lot of medication and trying to recuperate," said Gladewater Police Chief Farrell Alexander.

Johnson has the same fear that all patrol officers share: With his back to traffic, are motorists watching what they're doing?

"You're worried about cars hitting you in the back, hitting your car and knocking it into their car," Alexander said.

Fortunately, Johnson saw the truck coming. Then with another look he made a split second move.

"When he looked that last time he saw that the car started to swerve towards him and he tried to make as small a target as he could. That move saved him from being really injured," Alexander said.

The van driver that Johnson pulled over called 911 while the truck driver, 40 year old Eugene Allen Jones, was arrested for Passing an Emergency Vehicle Causing Bodily Injury.

"You're required to reduce your speed at least 20 miles an hour below the posted speed limit," Alexander said.

Johnson suffered broken bones in his feet but no life threatening injuries.

Bob Hallmark reporting [email protected]

[StainlessSteve]

WOW! lucky guy, glad he's going to be ok.........some people!

[David Hineline]

The driver barely pulled off the shoulder the officer was virtually in the traffic lane. In this case why could not the officer work the stop from the passenger side window?

I see more and more stops where the cruiser is parked at an offensive angle to protect/shield the stop, this cruiser must have been plenty out of the way to let that car get so close.

Here locally we are just seeing move over/change lane type laws being passed, but sleepy and distracted driving is pretty routine, As a driver I would much rather pull over in a safe place rather than on the main road, but I know that is not the way it is to be done.

[az4code23]

Glad he's okay!

[mikeymedic]

I wish him a speedy recovery.

[TexasAggieOfc]

The driver barely pulled off the shoulder the officer was virtually in the traffic lane. In this case why could not the officer work the stop from the passenger side window?

I see more and more stops where the cruiser is parked at an offensive angle to protect/shield the stop, this cruiser must have been plenty out of the way to let that car get so close.

Here locally we are just seeing move over/change lane type laws being passed, but sleepy and distracted driving is pretty routine, As a driver I would much rather pull over in a safe place rather than on the main road, but I know that is not the way it is to be done.

We were sitting in the squad room when this story came on. I will do some quick Monday morning QBing and say that yes, his tactics sucked. US 271 from Tyler, through Gladewater, and all the way to IH 30 in Mount Pleasant is a 5 lane, not divided, two way highway. However, That van was still going way to fast to be in that lane.