BY GAYLA CAWLEY
MARBLEHEAD — A police officer avoided injury when a patrol car was sideswiped by another vehicle on Tuesday morning.
The officer had stopped a driver for taking an illegal right turn on red near the Glover School and was verifying the person’s driver’s license and registration in the cruiser. While doing that, the officer’s cruiser was struck, police said.
The car’s driver pulled over following the crash. The officer was shaken, but uninjured and checked on the driver. The patrol car absorbed the damage and the car that the officer had pulled over was not hit, police said.
The driver told the officer that she had misjudged the distance between her and the stopped cruiser. An investigation revealed that the cooperative driver was not impaired, had a good driving record and was not distracted by any devices.
The woman, who police did not identify, was cited for violating the “move over law,” which was created to protect stopped public safety and service vehicles on the side of the road. The law requires drivers to change lanes if on a multi-lane roadway or slow down when approaching stopped emergency vehicles, police said.
The cruiser was towed.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.
