A Houston police patrol car burst into flames after colliding with an 18-wheeler truck north of downtown, authorities said Monday.
The HPD officer later complained of pain in his wrist after the crash before 8 p.m. along the northbound Interstate 45 service road at Cavalcade, authorities said.
The officer was responding to a call of a child locked in a car when the wreck happened, police said.
The truck was on the northbound I-45 service road and the officer was going east on Cavalcade. They collided in the intersection.
The force of the impact caused the HPD patrol car to spin in the intersection then erupt into flames.
The officer was taken to an area hospital to be checked out. The truck driver was checked out at the scene, police said.
Terry Reyes was behind the patrol car along Cavalcade just before the collision. He said the officer did not have his sirens on and only flipped on the flashers just before the wreck.
"He (the truck driver) did not have enough time to come to a complete stop. Even a small car wouldn't have been able to stop in time," said Reyes, who said he also is a truck driver.
The crash and the continuing investigation caused major traffic problems at the scene.
Police also investigated a crash along the North Freeway near the officer-involved wreck. The three-vehicle crash happened around 9:45 p.m. and resulted in the temporary closure of all northbound lanes at the scene.
Copyright 2014 - Houston Chronicle
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
