A police officer from Prince George's County narrowly escaped death this week after being hit during a routine traffic stop by a minivan. He remains in Cheverly's Prince George's Hospital Center in serious condition following the Thursday morning, May 22, accident that occurred around 9 a.m. in Forestville.
The officer had been with the county for only about a year and a half after returning from serving his country in Iraq. He was on Pennsylvania Avenue near its intersection with Walters Lane conducting a traffic stop with two other officers when they glimpsed a black minivan racing toward them on the shoulder of the road. Two of the officers were able to dodge the impact while the third dove into a ditch in an attempt to avoid the collision.
The two other officers were uninjured. The woman initially stopped by the officers rendered first aid to the injured policeman as others used airbags to lift the minivan off of his body. It is unknown how fast the driver who hit him was going or what caused him or her to drive outside of normal lanes of traffic. It is possible a medical condition was to blame. The force of the impact totaled three Crown Victoria police cars.
The president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 89 said that "incidents like these show how dangerous our work that we do is." Certainly policemen are exposed to work hazards on a daily basis that most employees never face in their entire careers.
Those injured on the job or in the line of duty are covered by workers' compensation insurance. Employers who balk at paying legitimate claims can be forced to comply by the courts. Speak to a Maryland attorney who practices workers' comp law if you experience problems with a payout on your claim.
