MASSACHUSETTS OFFICER STRUCK BY CAR IN TAUNTON

A Taunton police officer suffered a large gash to his head and broken ribs Thursday morning when he was struck by a car while working a detail assignment at County and Johnson streets. Officer David DeOliveira, 40, a 10-year veteran of the force and a father of one, was rushed to Morton Hospital and Medical Center shortly before 9:30 a.m. after a Nissan Maxima driven by Roxanne Morin of Taunton ran into him, police said.

He was later in the day listed as being in good condition, a hospital spokesman said. DeOliveira received staples and stitches for a wound extending from the middle of his forehead to the back of his head, and was treated for broken ribs in the upper part of his chest, Police Chief Raymond O’Berg said.

The chief said he’s grateful that DeOliveira survived what easily could have been a fatal accident, but added that the officer will likely be out of service “for a substantial period of time.” Morin, 38, told police the accident happened while she was in the throes of a coughing fit and didn’t realize she was supposed to veer right onto Johnson Street instead of continuing north on County Street.

DeOliveira was on foot directing traffic driving past Trucchi’s supermarket to detour onto Johnson Street, to allow Taunton Municipal Light Plant workers to trim tree branches from telephone lines in the middle of the long block.

One of those TMLP workers, Mark Jones, was praised by the chief and Mayor Charles Crowley during a press conference held later in the morning at Morton Hospital.

Jones reportedly grabbed DeOliveira’s radio as the officer lay semi-conscious in a pool of blood and broadcast an “officer down” distress call. “I can’t thank him enough for his presence of mind,” O’Berg said. Crowley drove himself to the scene of the accident after he received a call at his city hall office that an officer had been hurt while on duty. City councilor A. J. Marshall also did what he could to help DeOliveira.

Marshall said he was a few cars in front of Morin and had just waved to the officer as he started to drive down Johnson Street. Just then, he said, he heard a loud “thump.” That, he said, was the sound of DeOliveira being struck by Morin’s four-door sedan. It was loud, Marshall said, because the windows in his car were up and the heater and radio were both turned on.

Marshall said he hit his brakes and glanced left just in time to see DeOliveira hitting the pavement behind the car. Marshall said he called 911 on his cell phone as he ran through a yard and then tried to comfort the fallen officer. “He looked terrible,” Marshall said.

“There was blood on his face and a large wound on his forehead, and at the back of his head there was a pool of blood.” Marshall said he yelled at the officer, whose eyes were closed, to try to wake up. “David stay with us, help is on the way,” Marshall remembers saying.

He also said a woman who claimed to be a doctor checked DeOliveira’s pulse while he tried to retrain the cop’s legs from violently twitching.

Marshall said Morin was distraught, repeatedly saying “I can’t believe I hit him.” A Taunton police officer later said it appeared that DeOliveira saved himself from severe injuries to his legs and trunk by jumping up onto the front of the car.

Instead, he said, his head and upper chest smashed the windshield of the Maxima. O’Berg described the impact as “nasty” and said some of the officer’s hair was found sticking in glass where it meets the roof line. O’Berg also said Morin was cooperative. Accident reconstructionist Sgt. Paul Roderick, who with the state police is investigating the case, Thursday night said no charges have been filed against her as of yet.

But he said that could change depending on the directive of the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office. Another officer, who asked not to be identified, said Morin not only works as a nurse at Morton Hospital, she is also an acquaintance of DeOliveira and his family. Thursday morning as fellow officers, the mayor and passerby pulled together to make sure he got the attention he needed. “I was just trying to help,” Marshall said. “It was no more than what I would hope someone else would do if I were lying in the road.”

In 2004 DeOliveira got into a fight with a fellow officer and was subsequently suspended for 18 months. He was eventually cleared of all criminal charges and allowed to return to work and carry a firearm.