FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (DC News Now) — A drunk driver struck a Virginia State Police trooper who was attending to another driver who was under the influence of drugs.
On June 11, shortly after 3 a.m., the trooper responded to a sedan that had stopped in a lane on Interstate-495 near exit 52.
The driver of the sedan was in the car and would not listen when the trooper asked them to get out or move the car to a safer area on the shoulder of I-495. As that was happening, a Jeep Cherokee hit a tractor-trailer that had stopped because the sedan had closed the travel lane. That caused the Jeep to spin out of control and hit the trooper’s patrol car, which hit the sedan and then the trooper who was standing at the sedan’s driver side.
The trooper had minor injuries and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
The driver of the sedan, Erica Bernard, 43, of Albright, West Virginia, was still inside the car when the Jeep hit it. Bernard was also treated for minor injuries from the crash.
Bernard was charged with driving under the influence of drugs, obstruction, possession of schedule I or II substance, refusal of a blood/breath test and improperly stopping a vehicle on a highway.
The driver of the Jeep, Joanna Hatch, of Arlington, was arrested for driving under the influence.
Both drivers were taken to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.