Five injured in crash when Wichita officer runs red light responding to emergency
Five people, including a police officer, were hurt in a car crash Saturday night when the Wichita officer drove through a red light with emergency lights while on responding to a call.
The collision happened just after 10 p.m. at Hillside and First between a 2020 Ford Explorer city-owned police vehicle and a Hyundai Sonata. The police car “failed to safely clear the intersection and ran the red light,” according to a Kansas Highway Patrol report.
The police car had its emergency lights turned on when it struck the Hyundai, which spun “an unknown amount of times” before stopping in the southbound lanes of Hillside, the report said. The police car rolled into the northbound lanes before stopping on the sidewalk.
The officer was responding to an officer-in-trouble call at the time of the collision, WPD chief public information officer Andrew Ford said. The Kansas Highway Patrol is investigating.
The 22-year-old police officer was taken to a hospital with suspected serious injuries as a result of the crash, , according to a Kansas Highway Patrol report.
The four women in the other vehicle were also hurt. Three were hospitalized with serious injuries, while the fourth suffered suspected minor injuries, the report said.
According to the KHP report, the women are all 26 or 27 years old. But Ford wrote in an email to The Eagle on Monday that the driver and one passenger are 26 years old, a second passenger is 25 years old, and the age of the fourth woman is unknown. All of their injuries were non-life-threatening, Ford said.
The Wichita Eagle has requested additional documentation in connection with the crash. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
