MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — A Maryland Heights officer is lucky to be alive after a dump truck narrowly missed him while on duty Thursday.
According to police, at 1:48 in the afternoon, an officer was parked on the shoulder of northbound Interstate 270 south of the McKelvey Road overpass when the incident happened.
Dash cam footage shows a dump truck speeding past the patrol car on the right lane and into the grass, dodging the officer’s vehicle by only a few inches.
The officer was sitting in his car at the time and also had emergency lights on.
As posted on Maryland Heights’ Police Department Twitter page, they said the officer just barely avoided what could have been serious injuries.
The tweet also stated that speed, inattention and impaired driving are leading causes of traffic crashes on Missouri’s roadways.
Maryland Heights Police Department also told 5 On Your Side that no summons was issued in this incident.
A Missouri preliminary report that came out in February revealed a 12% increase in traffic fatalities in 2020 compared to the previous year.
A total of 989 lives were lost in Missouri traffic crashes in 2020, up from 881 in 2019.
Despite traffic volumes in the state being significantly down because of the pandemic, Missouri experienced its largest number of traffic fatalities since 2007.
There were also notable increases in unbuckled and speed-related fatalities, with both experiencing about a 25% increase from the previous year.
In 2020, 67% of drivers and passengers killed in car crashes were unbuckled, and preliminary numbers indicate 389 people were killed in crashes involving excessive speed or driving too fast for conditions.