Wichita cop car running lights, sirens to emergency T-bones Jeep, Highway Patrol says
A Wichita police officer headed to an emergency call Sunday night hit another car when he “failed to yield at the red light” at the intersection of Central and Tyler, sending its occupants to the hospital, according to a Kansas Highway Patrol crash report.
The officer, 23-year-old Trenton R.S. Wolff, was running his 2017 Chevrolet Tahoe patrol car with lights and sirens westbound on Central when he hit the 2012 Jeep Liberty as it was traveling south on Tyler at around 10 p.m., the report says.
The force of the impact pushed the Jeep into a bank building at the intersection.
“Just the momentum from the impact in the intersection, when you have essentially a T-bone accident, the vehicles will just peel off,” WPD Sgt. John Bogle told media at the crash scene Sunday.
The driver and passenger, 22-year-old Lauren Zwiesler and 26-year-old Dalton Scott of Wichita, were hospitalized with suspected minor and serious injuries, according to the KHP report. Neither had life-threatening injuries, Wichita police spokesman Officer Charley Davidson said.
The officer also complained of pain after the collision but did not seek medical treatment at the hospital, Davidson said. He was headed to a call about a disturbance involving a weapon when the crash occurred, he said.
Davidson said WPD asked the highway patrol to investigate the collision “for transparency and to avoid conflicts of interest.” The officer has been employed by the police department for nine months.
