A police officer was hit by the car of a drunk driver while working a routine traffic stop in Fort Worth, Texas.
On July 7, Officer Matt Lesell pulled a car over for a traffic offense. The dashcam on his police cruiser shows him walking up to the car that was pulled over on the side of the road. As the officer begins to talk to the driver of the vehicle, another car suddenly hits the side of the police cruiser before smashing into the officer and the stopped vehicle.
The video shows Officer Lesell's feet fly above his head before he is thrown into a lane of traffic. Fortunately, the officer managed to get up and walk off of the road and into the grass nearby in order to call for back-up.
Eventually, officers were able to check on the traffic violator and detain the intoxicated driver.
According to Tarrant County court records, the suspect, 34-year-old Mike Mitchell, was arrested for intoxicated assault causing serious bodily injury to a police officer. The offense is a second-degree felony.
Officer Lesell is recovering from a hyperextended foot and a fractured vertebra but is expected to be okay.
