Footage of an accident that took place on August 15 around 7:30 PM near Riverside Drive and East 66th Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and shows a police officer texting while driving right until the impact, has just been released.
About 25 seconds into the video, the officer can be seen changing lanes, when all of a sudden a Jeep Grand Cherokee comes sliding over the center median and hits the patrol car on the driver’s side. According to ABC Tulsa, the driver of the Jeep was found to be at fault.
While neither driver was seriously injured, the officer was taken to the hospital after complaining of a sore jaw and elbow, probably caused by the airbag.
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While it’s unclear why the driver of the Jeep lost control in the first place, we can definitely address the fact that the officer was texting and driving, which is not only wrong, but unprofessional.
“I think it’s dangerous. Bottom line: I don’t think anyone should text and drive,” said Christina Bonds, who lives near the site of the accident. “It’s scary over here anyways with traffic, because a lot of people, a lot of people everywhere when they’re driving, just don’t pay attention anymore.”
She also said that even if the other driver was responsible for the crash, the officer may have been able to do something about it had he not been on his phone: “It possibly could have been prevented had he not been texting”.
However, according to the description of the video, Tulsa officer Jeanne Pierce said that “there was nothing that this officer could have done to prevent this collision from happening.”
Well, maybe, maybe not – but when it’s been proven that texting while behind the wheel can be dangerous, seeing a police officer doing it doesn’t exactly give the right message to the rest of the drivers out there, does it?