CHP officer suffers minor injury ramming wrong-way vehicle on Highway 50 in Sacramento
Two California Highway Patrol vehicles “intentionally rammed” a vehicle to stop a wrong-way driver on Highway 50 overnight Thursday morning in Sacramento, authorities say.
One of the involved CHP officers suffered minor injuries but was not hospitalized, CHP’s South Sacramento office said in a news release.
CHP’s dispatch center received a 911 call about 1:40 a.m. Thursday reporting that a vehicle was traveling westbound in the fast lane of eastbound Highway 50 near Zinfandel Drive in Rancho Cordova, according to the news release.
An aircraft with CHP’s Valley Division tracked the vehicle, clocking it at about 40 mph and alerting ground units to its location, the news release said.
Two CHP cruisers slowed freeway traffic as the wrong-way vehicle neared Highway 99. The suspect vehicle failed to stop as it approached the two patrol vehicles near the interchange, according to the news release.
“Fearing for the safety of the motoring public, two CHP patrol vehicles were intentionally rammed into the wrong way vehicle, rendering it disabled in the center median,” the news release said.
Police took the driver and one passenger into custody. The driver was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, according to the CHP. The suspect’s identity has not been released.
This story was originally published November 8, 2019 at 9:59 AM.
