One Roseville police officer was injured this afternoon when two city squad cars crashed into each other en route to an armed bank robbery near Rosedale Shopping Center.
The injured officer had to be extricated from the squad car, said Randy Gustafson, Ramsey County sheriff's office spokesman, but was in stable condition at an area hospital "and appears to be fine."
The second officer did not suffer any injuries but was being checked out at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis "to be certain," said Gustafson.
The Minnesota State Patrol is reconstructing the accident.
Capt. Matt Langer of the Minnesota State Patrol said an early investigation of the noontime crash on County Road B2 just west of Fairview Avenue appeared to show that both squads -- one marked, one unmarked -- appeared to be heading westbound on B2 on their way to InterBank when the unmarked car turned in front of the other car and they collided.
The marked squad struck the front passenger door of the unmarked squad and flipped, landing on its roof. It's smashed front end pointed east after the crash.
The unmarked squad ended up on the side of the road with a giant dent.
An Allina Medical Transportation ambulance took one person to HCMC, said Allina spokesman Tim Burke.
The call the officers were responding to was an armed bank robbery in progress at the InterBank, 1875 County Road B2 W, Gustafson said. He said it did not appear that the bank robbery
suspects were apprehended.
The FBI continues to investigate, he said.
Langer credited "safe vehicles and seatbelts" to the "very low level of injuries" resulting from the collision.
Simultaneously "driving and doing police work is not an easy job," he said. "Unfortunately sometimes decisions get made that result in accidents."
The names of the officers involved in the crash have not been released.
Traffic at the accident site was blocked for a couple of hours but cleared after the squads were towed back to police headquarters at about 2:30 p.m.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
