Texas: Rowlett police vehicle hit by DWI suspect 2nd time this month
Rowlett police and firefighters are taking immediate and drastic action to protect first responders after a police car was struck by a suspected drunk driver for the second time in two weeks.
Effective immediately, the fire and police chiefs say when there is a crash or an assist motorist call along a three-and-a-half-mile stretch of I-30, the interstate will be shut down to ensure the safety of first responders and those involved in the crash. Last month, police teamed up with the fire department to have two fire engines out there in an attempt to make things safer.
That didn't stop one driver, who reportedly swerved out of the way to miss one of the fire engines, but then overcorrected and plowed into a police vehicle and knocking into a second fire truck. Thankfully, no one was inside the squad car at that time. The driver was taken into custody on a DWI charge.
“I’ve been a police officer for 40 years and this is about one of the most dangerous roadways I’ve ever worked on,” said Rowlett Police Sgt. Dean Poos.
“We’ve had two hit in the past two weeks,” said Rowlett Fire Department Chief Neil Howard. “We’ve got to do something different to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
“I’m frustrated, but I’m more worried,” said Rowlett Police Chief Mike Broadnax. “We’re going to get somebody killed out there. It’s going to be one of my guys or Neil’s guys and it could be both.”
Related Links
Links provided with these articles were active and accurate as of the posting of the article to ResponderSafety.com. However, web sites change and the organization hosting the page at the link may have moved or removed it since this article was posted. Therefore, some links may no longer be active.