Oct. 14--A pickup truck smashed into the rear of a Salina police officer's patrol vehicle Thursday morning immediately after the officer stopped on Interstate Highway 135 to direct traffic around a vehicle fire.
Officer Shawn Moreland, 39, and Kathene Hedges, 48, of Salina, the driver of the pickup, were treated in the emergency room at Salina Regional Health Center following the crash, which occurred shortly after 9:15 a.m.
Fire Marshal Roger Williams, of the Salina Fire Department, said firefighters responded to a report of a truck on fire on I-135. When firefighters arrived at the emergency vehicle turn-around about 100 yards north of the Magnolia Road entrance to northbound I-135, no flames or smoke were visible on the box truck parked there, he said.
Firefighters had checked over the truck and were processing paperwork when the crash involving Moreland's patrol car occurred just south of where the truck and fire department vehicles were parked, Williams said.
Capt. Mike Sweeney, of the Salina Police Department, said Moreland had responded to control traffic as firefighters investigated the truck fire. He said Moreland had stopped his vehicle, with the lights activated, in the passing lane several yards south of the fire department vehicles to prevent traffic from passing too closely to the stopped vehicles.
Moreland was still buckled into his car when the crash occurred. He attempted to put the vehicle back in gear when he saw Hedges' pickup truck pull around a semitrailer, which was in the right lane, and head for his patrol car, Salina Police Department Lt. Gerald Shaft said.
Sweeney said traffic had generally slowed because of the emergency vehicles in the area, but Hedges apparently had not seen the lights of emergency vehicles before she attempted to pass the semi and struck the patrol car from behind.
Sweeney said the crash is under investigation and no citations have been issued.
He said although the vehicles were extensively damaged, the drivers both walked away.
"It looked bad, but the injuries were not reflective of that," he said.
-- Reporter Erin Mathews can be reached at 822-1415 or by email at [email protected].
Copyright 2011 - The Salina Journal, Kan.
