Stunning video shows Virginia trooper being hit by suspected DUI driver – NBC4 Washington

Stunning video shows the moment a suspected drunk driver crashed on the Capital Beltway on Tuesday, injuring a Virginia State Police trooper who was talking to another driver who had stopped on the busy highway.

The officer, identified as C. Aziz, responded around 3 a.m. to Interstate 495 in Fairfax County because a sedan had stopped along the dotted lines between two right lanes, according to Virginia State Police and video from the scene.

The officer spoke with the driver of the stopped sedan as vehicles whizzed by in the left lane, video apparently from the officer’s dashcam shows.

Then a suspected drunk driver in a Jeep crashed into a tractor-trailer that had stopped behind the sedan, police said.

The Jeep struck the officer’s patrol car, which was parked behind the sedan with its lights flashing, police said.

The trooper’s patrol car was pushed forward, hitting the trooper and knocking her down, the video shows. You can hear the trooper screaming as she falls.

The video shows the soldier quickly standing up and speaking into a radio.

She has not broken any bones but faces a long road to recovery, police said while sharing the shocking video. A photo shows the passenger side of the trooper’s vehicle crumpled.

The driver of the Jeep, 35-year-old Joanna F. Hatch of Alexandria, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. The sedan driver, Erica D. Bernard, 43, of Albright, West Virginia, was arrested on several charges, including driving under the influence of drugs, possession of a controlled substance and improper stopping on a highway.

Under Virginia law, drivers are required to swerve when they see flashing lights and it is safe to change to a lane further from authorities.