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A crash involving a tractor trailer injured the police chief of Ozark, Arkansas. The new chief had been in pursuit of a Franklin County escapee.
A bystander who was eating with his family across the street from the truck accident says he could tell the vehicles involved in the wreck could not see each other. “I looked up across the street and I seen the police car…. and I seen that truck, and that truck – he just didn’t see it,” he said.
The chief’s police car ran under the tractor trailer as he was in pursuit of an escapee.
The eyewitness reported that the chief didn’t speak and was shaking. He appeared to be in shock. Just before he was airlifted to St. Ed’s in Fort Smith, the assistant police chief told others he had started talking again. The chief was released a short time later.
A sergeant investigating the accident said that it appeared that as the police chief was approaching the junction of Airport Road and Highway 219, an 18-wheeler was pulling off the interstate into the truck stop.
The 26-year-old escapee was still on the loose with the county sheriff and deputies in pursuit.
The man had apparently escaped during a transfer from the jail to the courthouse. The sheriff reported that “Since we’re just a block away, we will transport them by walking them across, and he broke free from the bailiff.” Within a minute of the escape, the deputies were in pursuit.
The accused man stole a vehicle from an area business, and police were forced to follow him in chase. The man was apprehended again on Stagecoach Road.
For safety reasons, areas schools were locked down until the inmate was captured.
A rep says it’s a widely adopted practice to shut down schools when a convict is loose.
Children are of the highest priority and if keeping them sequestered inside during a chase gives them any extra chance to avoid injury, the school officials are doing the right thing.
Referring back to the police chief’s injury a source says the accident was most likely the chief’s fault. He may have been new to the area and not quite familiar with the common exits of truckers at that particular junction. It appears that the chief was just in a hurry and didn’t have time to see and react to the tractor trailer’s presence.
Queens and Staten Island have the same concerns.
While the cause was just, the outcome is unfortunate.
A New York Truck Accident Attorney can help you receive compensation for damages or injuries you incur because of someone’s negligence. Their competent, professional help will ensure judgments are in your favor.