Deputy Struck by Drunk Driver
Posted by
Christina ColeMarch 06, 2007 2:12 AMA Polk County deputy hit by a suspected underage drunken driver that he was attempting to stop, has been listed in serious condition on Sunday at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center.
The officer was standing near a roadway setting up stop stick at an intersection when he was hit. He was preparing to stop the driver being chased after the driver had failed to stop for another officer at a previous intersection, said Captain Davis with Polk County Sheriff Department.
Polk County EMS treated the officer at the scene before airlifting him to Spartanburg Medical Center where he was admitted to the neurological unit.
The car accident occurred on Saturday at 1:00am as the Spartanburg County Communications Center picked up a report of a drunken driver coming out of Spartanburg heading into Polk.
"The burgundy Ford minivan was spotted at the interchange of I-26 and U.S. 74 by the Tryon Police Department and apparently they even had a call from a motorist saying they almost got hit by the van as they were driving out on highway 74 East," Davis said. "A chase by us, the Tryon Police Department and the Columbus Police Department went on for several miles when the van got to the Highway 9 exit and the driver turned south onto Highway 9 where Will Green Road is. It was at that intersection where Sgt. Butler was out of his car on the road setting up stop sticks when the minivan struck him. The driver did not stop and kept going down the road."
Davis added that it is not known how fast the minivan was going when the driver hit Butler, but the minivan was doing about 70 to 75 miles per hour while it was on U.S. 74, according to the 911 tapes. The speed limit on that road is 65 miles per hour, Davis said.
Officers threw down a second set of stop sticks on N.C. 9 a few yards past where Butler was hit and stopped the Ford minivan, he said. Polk County Sheriff's deputies arrested the driver and the two passengers.
Immediately the investigation was turned over to North Carolina Highway Patrol and the agency requested the State Bureau of Investigation be called in also. It is expected that state troopers will set up a reconstruction scene today.
The driver of the minivan was still in jail on Sunday, but the two passengers were charged with underage drinking and released from custody. Due to the teens being under 18, their names have not been released.
The driver is being charged with fleeing to elude arrest with a motor vehicle, felony serious injury by a vehicle, assault with a deadly weapon on a government official, driving while impaired and no driver's license, said Polk County Officials. He is being held in on a $505,000 bond.