A San Diego police motorcycle officer was sent tumbling 50 to 60 feet down a roadside embankment Friday when an out-of-control pickup truck struck the SUV he was standing next to during a freeway traffic stop in Otay Mesa.
The patrolman suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the late- morning accident alongside westbound state Route 905, just west of Interstate 805, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The officer had pulled over a maroon Nissan Xterra and was standing on its passenger side when a Ford F-150 crashed into his BMW police motorcycle and then struck the parked SUV shortly before 10 a.m., CHP public-affairs Officer Jake Sanchez said.
The second impact pushed the Xterra into the patrolman, knocking him over a guardrail adjacent to a steep brushy slope, Sanchez said.
Realizing what had happened, the uninjured 37-year-old Imperial Beach man behind the wheel of the SUV jumped out and hurried down into the ravine to aid the officer, who was conscious and radioing for help, Sanchez said.
Meanwhile, the driver of the pickup, who also was unhurt, pulled over about 100 yards down the roadway and awaited the arrival of authorities, according to the CHP.
Medics took the 11-year San Diego Police Department patrolman, whose name has not been released, to UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest for treatment of cuts, scrapes, bruises and complaints of pain in his chest and legs, Sanchez said.
The driver of the F-150, 47-year-old Rigoberto Lopez of San Diego, was questioned and released, he said.
CHP’s investigation of the accident was ongoing, but investigators said intoxication was not believed to have been a factor in the wreck.
–City News Service