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CLEARWATER, FL – A police officer escaped injury, but not the driver who crashed into his patrol car parked as he was conducting a motor vehicle stop.
Southbound U.S. 19 was closed south of State Road 590 after a crash with serious injuries near Drew Street.
A police vehicle making a traffic stop was struck by another vehicle. The driver of the pickup that hit the police vehicle was taken to a local hospital as a trauma alert. The officer was not injured as he was away from his vehicle talking with the driver of the car he had pulled over.
The traffic stop had occurred in the left emergency lane; the impact of the crash sent the police SUV hurtling across three lanes and into the right emergency lane.