Three critically injured in crash with police car
APD officer also has broken bones in collision as he was responding to emergency call on Eubank NE
An officer racing to a call collided with another car, critically injuring a woman and two children, according to a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department.
Officer Simon Drobik said shortly after 6 p.m. Monday, an officer with the foothills area command was heading north on Eubank toward Indian School NE and crashed into another vehicle heading south as it turned east in the intersection.
Drobik said the officer’s lights and sirens were on as he headed to a call involving a man armed with a machete at the Albertsons grocery store at Juan Tabo and Candelaria NE.
“Those two vehicles collided in the middle of the intersection,” Drobik said. “Juveniles inside that vehicle were injured, along with a female driver.”
Drobik said the woman and children were critically injured and their survival is “moment by moment.”
“We have officers down on scene at the hospital,” he said. “We have peer support and a chaplain on scene.”
He said the officer sustained a broken ankle and a broken femur.
Drobik did not name the officer or the woman and children. He said police are still investigating how fast the officer was going and whether the light was red or green.
Further details were not available late Monday, Drobik said, and more would be released after officers have more information.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation into the crash, and officers from the Albuquerque Police Department, New Mexico State Police and Rio Rancho Police Department are assisting.
Officers at the scene could be seen examining a black Ford hatchback that had severe damage on the passenger side. The airbags had been deployed.
About 50 feet away was an Albuquerque police cruiser with serious front-end damage. Both vehicles were in the right lane of northbound Eubank and appeared to have spun around, as they were both facing the wrong direction
The intersection remained closed for hours while investigators examined the streets and vehicles.
Onlookers gathered on the nearby sidewalks to watch, and Drobik said many bystanders had stopped after the crash to help the woman and children and the officer.
“We’d like to thank the civilians who stopped and rendered aid to the family before rescue arrived on scene,” he said.
The crash was the second on Monday involving an Albuquerque police officer.
A speeding driver crashed into a police officer’s squad car near Florida and Ross SE around 1 p.m.
That officer was not injured. The driver ran away on foot and had not been caught Monday afternoon, according to a police spokesman.