FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — East Point Police Chief Shawn Buchanan is grateful his officers survived after they were in a crash involving a tractor-trailer early Wednesday morning. The crash happened on I-285 South before Camp Creek Parkway when police say the tractor-trailer hit three East Point Police Department vehicles and sent two officers to the hospital.
"When you look at it, it's by the grace of God that they’re alive," Chief Buchanan said.
The Georgia State Patrol said the three East Point PD vehicles were parked in the "first lane from the concrete median wall while responding to an incident with their emergency lights activated" when the tractor-trailer was "traveling too fast for roadway conditions and failed to move over for emergency vehicles before striking all three patrol vehicles and the concrete median wall."
East Point Police said one officer was in his patrol vehicle when the wreck occurred, while another officer was trying to run for safety but fell and "was ran over by his own vehicle."
"The impact of the 18-wheeler striking the patrol vehicles caused an officer to be trapped underneath the vehicle," he said, adding that it dragged him.
Those were the two officers sent to the hospital while a third officer, police said, "narrowly escaped serious injuries by fleeing on foot into oncoming traffic to evade being hit by the 16-wheeler," the department said.
East Point Police later posted photos of the wrecked police vehicle. The department said on Facebook that all three vehicles were destroyed.
Joshlin Goodin, who drives on I-285, said he feels tractor-trailers need more regulations on the interstate because its dangerous.
“I feel like some regulations need to be put in place because I understand that the 18-wheelers have to drive in the left lane to get on I-20, but they shouldn’t drive all of the lanes," Goodin said.
Buchanan said semi-trucks aren’t allowed in the fast lane, which he said led to the crash. He believes the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel.
All three officers are expected to be OK.
The tractor-trailer driver has been charged with too fast for conditions, moveover law violation and prohibited lane usage by trucks using multi-lane highways.
The crash happened around 5 a.m. Some lanes reopened a little after 10 a.m. According to the Fulton County Emergency Management Agency, crews worked to clean up a fuel spill. The agency said an alert was sent out about the wreck just after 7 a.m.
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