Police car, vehicle collide in Virginia Beach

VIRGINIA BEACH 

A police officer and a civilian inside his car were taken to a hospital this morning after a crash at South Plaza Trail and South Independence Boulevard.

The officer is recovering at home this afternoon after receiving treatment at a hospital, Officer Margie Hobbs, a police spokeswoman, said this afternoon in an e-mail. The passenger is also recovering from non-life-threatening injuries, she said.

The officer was responding to a crash and had the car’s lights and sirens on when he approached the intersection of South Plaza, police wrote in a news release. The officer stopped for a red light, then eased across a crosswalk and stopped again and changed the tone of the siren.

As the officer went through the intersection, his car was hit on the passenger side by a white Suzuki sport utility vehicle, which spun the police vehicle and sent it toward a ditch, the release says.

The passenger was riding with the officer as part of a study examining the affects of drug use on car crashes, according to the release. As part of the study, researchers travel with police officers to the scenes of car crashes to interview those involved and ask for voluntary blood and saliva samples. The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation started the study Jan. 2 and hopes to release results next summer.

The driver of the Suzuki was not hurt, according to police.

Police said the officer and passenger in his car were wearing seatbelts, which prevented more serious injuries. The airbags in the vehicle also were credited.

No charges have been filed against the driver of the Suzuki, and the crash remains under investigation, Hobbs said.

By 12:30 p.m., officials had cleared the scene of the crash and reopened South Plaza at Independence, police said.