CHP Officer Injured Responding to 5 Freeway Crash

A California Highway Patrol officer was injured today while responding to a collision on the Santa Ana (5) Freeway in San Juan Capistrano.

The officer was on scene to investigate a crash that did not result in any injuries when he was struck by a pickup truck about 3:15 p.m. on the northbound 5 near Pacific Coast Highway, CHP Officer Pete Kim said.

The officer had been helping a tow truck driver hook up one of the vehicles involved in the initial crash, Kim said. Because there is no shoulder where the collision happened, the officer used his vehicle to block off the accident scene, he said. There were two tow trucks at the collision, and both had their emergency lights on, Kim added.

The driver of a Toyota Tacoma was attempting to merge into traffic in the northbound lanes from Camino Las Ramblas, Kim said, when “all of a sudden she realizes there are vehicles stopped right there,” he said.

The Tacoma crashed into a tow truck and then the patrol car before hitting the officer, who was taken to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo with non-life-threatening injuries, Kim said.

The officer, whose name was withheld, may have suffered a broken leg, according to Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi.

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City News Service

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