Cop Narrowly Avoids Getting Crushed by Speeding Car

Crash in Fairfax County, Virginia, involved teen going 'well over 120mph," officials say
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted May 3, 2023 10:05 AM CDT

A Virginia police officer is shaken but lucky to be alive after narrowly escaping being crushed by a speeding car in Fairfax County. WUSA9 reports on the accident on the southbound Fairfax County Parkway, where the officer had made a traffic stop just after noon on Monday. A dashcam video (footage starts at the 4:45 mark) released Tuesday by Fairfax County Police shows the officer out of his own cruiser and leaning into the passenger-side window of the car he'd pulled over, standing in between the car and the highway's guardrail as he converses with the driver.

Suddenly, the sound of screeching tires can be heard, and a car in the northbound lanes is seen spinning out of control, crossing over the grassy median in a cloud of smoke—right toward the other car and the officer. The officer starts running even before impact, jumping out into the open space behind the car he'd pulled over, which is smashed into the guardrail as the speeding car hits it. The video then shows the rattled officer calling the accident in and going to check on the drivers.

The officer suffered just minor injuries, says Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis says. So did the driver of the car that was pulled over, who was released from an area hospital after being treated. The 17-year-old driving the out-of-control 2018 BMW M3, which Davis says was going "well over 120mph," also suffered minor injuries, as did the teen's two passengers, per NBC Washington. "It was going way too fast," Davis says of the speeding car. "It was a rocket, and then it became a missile." The teen driver was given a ticket for reckless driving, a misdemeanor. The police department says it released the video as a warning for others on speeding. (More car crash stories.)

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