Two Texas police officers were injured—one seriously—when a tractor-trailer jack-knifed at an accident scene Thrusday.
The incident happened at about 9 a.m. along Interstate 35W, near Roanoke and Texas Motor Speedway, as Northlake police were responding to an earlier crash, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. Two officers were in their separate vehicles when an 18-wheeler struck their vehicles and split open.
"Fortunately, they were both inside their vehicles, and their vehicles protected them," Police Chief Robert Crawford told KDFW-TV. "If they’d been outside of the vehicles, I don’t think we’d have our officers here with us today."
The big rig's wreckage pinned Officer Thomas Martinez, 47, inside his vehicle, crushing the cruiser beneath the tractor-trailer. Rescuers extricated Martinez—a veteran with over a dozen years in law enforcement and three years with the department—and he was taken to the hospital, where he was put in the intensive care unit for observation.
Martinez was responsive when he was pulled from the crash, and although he initially was admitted to the hospital in critical condition, he was upgraded to stable condition, a post on the town's Facebook page stated.
Matthew Koeper, 38, was the other officer injured in the incident. The nine-year veteran was hospitalized with minor injuries and later released.
Two other people also were injured in the incident, according to the Star-Telegram. They were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
“Please keep our Northlake officers and their families in your thoughts and prayers,” a statement from the town said.
