'Cops' TV Crew Injured In Police Car Crash

'Cops' TV Crew Injured In Police Car Crash
Officer, TV Crew Expected To Survive


PORTLAND, Ore. -- A Portland police patrol car carrying two crew members from the television show "Cops" collided with another car Tuesday night, police said.

A Subaru Outback traveling in the opposite direction drifted into the lane of the patrol car and hit the officer's car head-on, said Detective Mary Wheat of the Portland Police Bureau. The Subaru rolled over onto its top.

The crash occurred at Southeast 136th Avenue and Stark Street at about 9 p.m., reported television station KPTV in Portland.

The police officer and two crew members from the TV show were injured and taken to local hospitals. They're all expected to survive, Wheat said. There were no serious injuries to the other driver.

http://www.clickorlando.com/entertainment/21158995/detail.html

They were chasing Polanski :)

by two guys in wife-beater shirts who had mullet-style haircuts.

:rofl:

this happened pretty close to Gresham, which is pretty much the home of bad teeth and wife beaters in this area.

I wonder if it will raise any questions among police departments about the distraction factor of the camera crew - even though the other car seems to be at fault, cops tend to be pretty aware drivers (I assume so, anyway) so I wonder if this officer could have gotten out of the way without the passengers to attract some of his attention...

car that was in the wrong lane and I am hearing this from my fellow crew people who were working there last night. When you are working we joke about "film immunity" in regards to crossing streets, etc., because you're focused on your job and don't always hear what the AD is saying on his walkie and apparently the cop who was driving the patrol car did not know that traffic had been released.

Latest story from our local paper:

Investigators suspect alcohol was a factor in last night's head-on collision between a Portland police car and a Subaru Outback on Southeast Stark Street about 9 p.m.

The police car was heading east on Southeast Stark Street, near 136th Avenue, when the Subaru, heading westbound, veered into the officer's lane. A film crew from the television show COPS was riding in the officer's vehicle at the time.

The officer and one of the COPS passengers were treated at a local hospital and released last night, but the other COPS passenger sustained serious head injuries and remains hospitalized.

The driver of the Subaru is a 53-year-old man, whom police did not identify. Police suspect alcohol may have been a factor, in what caused the Subaru driver to veer into oncoming traffic.

The Portland Police Bureau's major crash team is investigating.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/one_person_left_with_serious_h.html