Police vehicle involved in crash

By Bridget Thoreson
Journal Times

Sunday, August 17, 2008 10:58 PM CDT

RACINE — A Racine police officer suffered minor injuries in a four-vehicle crash Sunday afternoon when hit by an alleged drunken driver.

Officer Jorge Garcia was traveling west on the 1100 block of Goold Street in response to a call at about 5:30 p.m. when an SUV turned into his car, according to Sgt. Rick Toeller. The vehicle had failed to yield to the first squad car that had passed by, and then turned in front of Garcia, hitting his car.

Garcia’s squad car then ran into a utility pole and crashed into two parked cars. Garcia was taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries, Toeller said.

The driver was arrested for operating while on a suspended license, two charges of failing to yield to an emergency vehicle and an OWI causing injury, according to Toeller.

Jim Tomes of 1118 Goold St. was sitting on his porch at the time of the crash. When it happened, he watched as a man standing between the two parked cars jumped out of the way.

“I thought he was going to get killed,” Tomes said. “He’s in one piece and no one seems to be hurt badly, thank God.”

Andrew Martinez of Geneva Street was in the alley when he heard the sirens of the two squad cars passing by. He was waiting for the second squad car when he heard the crash.

“(There was) a very little screech from the brakes and then the impacts,” Martinez said. “It was hard.”

After the crash, Martinez spoke to the man who had been standing between the parked cars. Martinez said the man was in a state of shock.

“He hasn’t been able to sit down,” Martinez said. “He’s just happy that nothing really happened.”

Wood from the utility pole was wedged in the door of the squad car at the scene of the accident, and broken glass was scattered over the street and sidewalks. The rears of both parked cars were crumpled.

“The trunk of my car is in the front of my car now,” said Randy Ostergaard of 1110 Goold St., owner of one of the parked cars.

Ostergaard was sitting in the front window of his home when he heard the sirens and then the blast of metal and glass cracking. He went outside to see his car in the road.

“I was like, ‘Man, that car is really messed up,’ ” Ostergaard said. “I didn’t even recognize it.”

Tomes, who saw the man jumping out of the way of the crash, said Garcia’s driving prevented the accident from being worse than it was.

“It all happened so fast,” Tomes said. “The police officer looked OK; he might be scared out of his wits, but he did a good job.”

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