Wauwatosa police officers involved in 2 separate Sunday crashes
WAUWATOSA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Wauwatosa Police Department officers were involved in two separate crashes Sunday evening, Dec. 7.
The first crash took place near Mayfair Road and W. Center Street just after 6 p.m. Police say an officer stopped a vehicle for not displaying license plates. During the stop, a ride share vehicle rear-ended the squad car. The ride share vehicle rolled onto its side before coming to a stop.
Two people in the ride share vehicle were transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The second crash happened about one hour later near Bluemound Road and 121st St. Officers were responding to a crash where a vehicle hit a light pole. The driver was arrested for OWI.
While helping the arrested driver into the back of a squad car, a passing vehicle reportedly struck one of the officers and the arrested driver.
Officials say the arrested driver suffered an ankle injury and the officer was taken to an area hospital for evaluation and later released.
Police say the driver of the striking vehicle remained on scene and cooperated with the investigation, and that it appears they were distracted and did not see the emergency vehicles in time to move over safely.
The neighborhood was described as "pretty quiet" by John Hoeppner, who grew up in a home just a few doors down from the accident on Bluemound. "Seems to be typical, not just for this area, but it seems like in the Milwaukee County area. There seems to be a lot of that going on nowadays," Hoeppner said. He went on to say, "It's unfortunate you see anybody get hurt, and the police are doing the best they can under the situation."
Mario Delval lives in a home directly in front of where the crashes happened on Bluemound. He said he saw a car in the median with several squad cars and firetrucks responding shortly after 7 p.m.
"It's a busy street. Unfortunately, it happens," he said. Delval added that it was "dark out," making it hard to see on the road at night.
Both crashes remain under investigation.
Wauwatosa police want to remind the public to move over when emergency vehicles are on the side of the road, as per Wisconsin's Move Over Law.