Heart-stopping police dash-camera footage shows an out-of-control car spin across a median and hit a stopped car and an officer making a traffic stop in Fairfax County, Virginia. The crash could have ended in tragedy — but the officer saw the car coming and ran.
Video released by Fairfax County police on Tuesday shows an officer making a traffic stop on southbound Fairfax County Parkway near Braddock Road at about 11:40 a.m. Monday. The officer has a gray sedan pulled onto the right shoulder and is speaking to the driver through the passenger window.
Suddenly, a black sedan speeds around a curve, spins out, screams across the grass median and spins backward. The officer sees it happening and starts to run.
The cars collide head-on and the striking vehicle spins, clipping the officer’s right leg and then smashing into the police cruiser.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
If the officer had not run, he may have lost his life, or at a minimum, his legs.
The officer popped back up and jumped on his radio.
"My cruiser was hit, driver was hit, trying to check on injuries,” he said.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
The driver of the gray car was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. The officer also had minor injuries.
A 17-year-old driver going “well over 120 mph” in a 2018 BMW M3 caused the crash, Chief Kevin Davis said. The driver, whose name was not released, was ticketed for reckless driving, which is a misdemeanor.
“It was going way too fast. It was a rocket and then it became a missile,” Davis said.
The teen driver and two passengers also had minor injuries.
Fairfax County Parkway was briefly closed after the crash.
The officer’s decision to approach the passenger side of the car he stopped may have saved his life, the police chief said.
Davis also shared why the driver of the gray car was stopped: for going 73 mph in a 50 mph zone.
