State police: Petersburg officer en route to emergency scene runs into car downtown
PETERSBURG – A city police officer is facing traffic charges after the cruiser he was driving hit another vehicle at a downtown intersection Friday morning.
Virginia State Police are investigating the crash because it involves a law-enforcement officer.
The wreck happened at the intersection of West Wythe and South Market streets in front of a city fire station. State Police Sgt. Jessica Shehan said the unidentified officer was southbound on Market Street when he T-boned a car heading east on Wythe Street.
The driver of the other car had the right-of-way through the intersection because the traffic light for Wythe Street was green.
The police officer claimed he was responding to an emergency call and had his lights and siren on when the crash happened. However, Shehan said, the trooper investigating the wreck said that officer did not have his body-worn camera operating at the time, so there was no way to immediately corroborate that.
The officer was charged with failure to yield to a traffic light.
Shehan said the driver of the other vehicle was injured, but she refused EMS transport and took herself to the hospital.
An investigation into the crash is ongoing.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Petersburg Police officer cited in downtown crash Friday
