KTLA reports that a California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer was hospitalized after an alleged drunken driver rear-ended his patrol cruiser along the 22 Freeway in Garden Grove.
Captain Joe Perez of the Orange County Fire Authority told reporters that dispatchers began receiving calls about the crash at approximately 8:45 p.m. on Sunday, November 4.
A CHP officer had pulled his cruiser over in the westbound lanes of the 22 Freeway to help a stranded motorist when a Chevrolet Tahoe SUV slammed into the rear end of his patrol vehicle. The crash caused a chain reaction, forcing the patrol cruiser into the stranded Porsche Cayenne.
“When we arrived on the scene, we had one officer stuck inside his car,” Perez told reporters. “He had to be extricated with the Jaws of Life by our truck company.”
The CHP officer was rushed to the University of California Medical Center in Irvine to be treated for moderate injuries they suffered in the crash. The officer is expected to be OK. Authorities have not yet released their identity.
A boy and a girl who were passengers inside the Tahoe were not injured in the crash. They were released to family members immediately following the incident.
The CHP administered field sobriety tests to the driver of the Tahoe, 36-year-old Krystal Amy Ramos. Failing the test, she was arrested on the charges of felony DUI and two counts of child endangerment.