CANADIAN COUNTY, Okla. (KFOR) – Oklahoma Highway Patrol released heart-stopping video of a traffic stop crash along Interstate-40 from January 18 that hurt the trooper and two drivers.
It was a routine traffic stop for Trooper Jesse Gregory. He was wrapping up the stop with a white SUV when the driver of a black SUV slammed into the back of the parked vehicle.
The video showed Gregory flipping backwards and tumbling through the grass along the side of the interstate.
The white SUV was mangled from the crash. The video also showed the black SUV flipping down the road, while you could hear Gregory calling for help on his radio.
“I’m just so glad he was able to get up and walk away,” said Trooper Preston Cox, Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Cox said Gregory’s training likely saved his life.
“If he was on the other side of that vehicle, I think the injuries sustained would have been much more significant,” said Cox.
The crash happened along I-40 near Cimarron Road. The speed limit in the area is 75 miles per hour.
Two weeks earlier, less than five miles away on I-40 near Garth Brooks Blvd., a Canadian County deputy and driver were both hurt in a similar crash.
“We’re having too many instances like this,” said Cox. “You see those emergency lights, they’re there for a reason. The law states that if you can’t move over, you must slow down.”
Law enforcement across Oklahoma have been pushing to bring more awareness to distracted driving on state roads. The video was a reminder of how dangerous traffic stops can be for not only agencies but drivers.
The crash is still under investigation as OHP works to determine if the driver of the black SUV was distracted or under some kind of impairment.
“A lot of time it could be a combination of both or it could be one or the other,” said Cox.
Luckily, the trooper and both drivers only suffered minor injuries and were treated and released from the hospital.