A Northern York County Regional Police officer and a prisoner he was transporting early Monday were seriously injured when the cruiser they were in was involved in two separate accidents on Interstate 83 in Manchester Township, state police said.
The 2:43 a.m. crash closed I-83 southbound, creating gridlock on surrounding roads. Traffic resumed on I-83 around 10:45 a.m. Monday after Pennsylvania State Police reconstructed the accident and surveyed the area, said state police spokesman Trooper Tom Pinkerton.
The first crash, on I-83 near the Susquehanna Trail and Locust Lane overpass just north of the North George Street exit, occurred when the officer's vehicle rear-ended a "slow-moving" box truck traveling in the right lane, said Pinkerton.
The box truck was driven by Ben M. Schwartz, 41, of Middletown, Dauphin County, he said.
The impact caused both vehicles to stop in the right southbound lane, Pinkerton said, and the police officer's headlights and tail lights "were rendered inoperative."
Almost immediately after the first accident, an 18-wheel tractor-trailer driven by Harold Brooks, 65, of Baltimore, was also traveling south in the right lane and collided into the police vehicle and box truck, said Pinkerton.
"(The 18-wheeler) wasn't able to see them in the lane of travel and rear ended the police vehicle, sending it partially underneath the rear of the box truck," he said.
The names of the victims in the police cruiser were not released and the severity of their injuries wasn't available Monday morning, said Pinkerton.
The police officer was taken to York Hospital by ambulance, and his passenger was taken to a local hospital by helicopter, he said. The prisoner was suspected for DUI and was being driven to a local hospital for chemical testing, said Pinkerton.
Pinkerton said neither Schwartz or Brooks were injured.
Brooks was taken to a local hospital for chemical testing, because of state and federal law, Pinkerton said, noting there was no reason to suspect the driver was impaired.
