A 47-year-old man who was intoxicated crashed into a Bloomington Police Department car Tuesday night, according to Bloomington Police Capt. Ryan Pedigo. The officer driving the police car was slightly injured but was released back to duty.
The Bloomingtonian spoke to witnesses at South Washington and Allen Street who saw the driver fail to yield at the stop sign as they collided with the police car. The collision took place around 7:15 p.m.
Pedigo said the driver of a 2003 Land Rover SUV then continued traveling west on Allen Street. The police officer ran after the vehicle and detained the driver. Witnesses at the scene said they saw the police officer run on foot after the collision. The officer was driving south on Washington non-emergent without lights activated, said Pedigo.
The Land Rover was stopped in the northbound lane of South Walnut Street and Allen Street and had damage to the passenger side doors. The police car was sitting at Allen and South Washington with heavy front-end damage. Pieces of the police car could be heard crunching as a tow truck driver used a cable to drag the car into a position so it could be towed.
Here is more information in a press release to the media from Pedigo at the BPD:
“On February 1st at approximately 7:15 p.m., an officer of the Bloomington Police Department was southbound on Washington Street near the intersection of E Allen Street in a fully marked police vehicle. The officer was not driving emergent and did not have the emergency lights or siren activated. As the officer was proceeding through the intersection of S Washington Street and E Allen Street, a westbound black 2003 Land Rover SUV, operated by Freddy Ortiz (47, Bloomington), disregarded the stop sign for Allen Street traffic and drove directly into the path of the police vehicle, resulting in a collision. The force of impact caused the airbags in the police vehicle to deploy and the police vehicle came to a stop on the southwest side of the intersection. The officer then exited her police vehicle and observed that the Land Rover had continued westbound and was then at the intersection of S Walnut Street and Allen Street.
The officer therefore ran after the vehicle and was able to detain the driver of the SUV. It was quickly determined that Ortiz had active arrest warrants out of Howard County for the charges of Domestic Battery in the Presence of a Minor and Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated. Further, Ortiz showed signs of impairment at the scene. Standardized field sobriety tests were therefore administered and at the conclusion of the tests, Freddy Ortiz was arrested and charged with the following:
- Operating a Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated Endangering a Person; A misdemeanor
- Operating a Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated; C misdemeanor
- Operating a Motor Vehicle Without Ever Receiving a License; C misdemeanor
- Operating a Motor Vehicle Without Proof of Financial Responsibility; C misdemeanor
- The two outstanding arrest warrants out of Howard County
Investigators interviewed witnesses at the scene who reported that they had observed the Land Rover traveling westbound on Allen Street at a high rate of speed and that they also observed the vehicle disregard the stop sign and drive directly into the path of the police vehicle. The officer was slightly injured in the crash but has been released to return to full duty.”
