Video: SUV slams into cruiser, officer radios for help

The officer missed being seriously injured by just seconds

By PoliceOne Staff

AUGUSTA, Wis. —  An officer escaped with only minor injuries despite an SUV veering over the center line of the road and slamming into his parked cruiser.  

Officer Dane Wisniewski was in shock after the incident, and can be heard calling dispatch reporting that he had been hit head on and that it was an emergency.

The video shows Wisniewski walking back to his vehicle after a traffic stop just seconds before the SUV appears. "It could have been terrible.  I could have been making a call to parents and loved ones of an officer killed," Chief of Police Mike Mosley told ABC 18.

Mosley said the officer did everything by the book in Saturday's incident, including parking his squad car at an angle and checking traffic before walking back to his vehicle.

It is unclear what caused the driver to swerve, but officials are speculating that driver fatigue could be a factor, as the 71-year-old had just recently left a funeral.

Wisniewski suffered strained muscles, neck and back pain, and bumps and bruises.  He was not hospitalized, according to the article.