Police officer slightly hurt when cruiser struck

A tractor-trailer crashed into a Columbus police cruiser early Tuesday on Interstate 70 westbound in the construction zone on the Far West Side — the second time in 48 hours that city police had been involved in a crash on an interstate.

Officer Robert Perry suffered minor injuries in the crash, which occurred at 12:14 a.m. Tuesday near the I-70 and I-270 interchange.

Perry, 52, a 23-year veteran of the police division, was working special duty in the construction zone in the westbound lanes of Interstate 70 and had stopped a motorist for a speeding violation. Police said a tractor-trailer cut off by another motorist veered, apparently to avoid a collision, and instead crashed into Perry’s cruiser, shoving it into a barrier.

“Thankfully, Officer Perry was inside of his cruiser (writing a ticket) at the time of this accident, otherwise it could have been extremely worse,” said Columbus Police Sgt. Joe Albert.

On Sunday morning, Columbus Police Sgt. Benjamin Messerly had stopped to help a stranded motorist on Interstate 670 by the Leonard Avenue exit when he was struck by a car driven by a woman later charged with drunken driving and aggravated vehicular assault. Messerly, who was inside his cruiser when the crash occurred, was hospitalized for a head wound. He has since been released. Hilliard police cruisers also have been struck in three incidents while stopped on the side of Interstate 270 in the past six weeks, said Amanda Litchfield, a spokeswoman for Hilliard police. Construction has been ongoing on Interstate 270.

Hilliard police officers were not hurt in any of the cases. In the most recent case, a vehicle sideswiped the cruiser and tore off the rearview mirror but didn’t bother to stop.