Houston police officer hospitalized after being struck by AT&T truck near IH-610 South Loop at Stella Link Road, HPD says

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Houston police officer hospitalized after being hit by AT&T along the IH-610 South Loop feeder road Wednesday, according to the department.

The Houston Police Department told ABC13 it is conducting a traffic enforcement initiative in the area known for speeding.

An officer was using radar around 2:15 p.m. when he entered a lane of moving traffic on the service road near South Loop near Timberside Drive.

HPD Commander Trey Coleman of the vehicular crimes division said the officer attempted to flag down an AT driver&T who was allegedly driving at excessive speed when he was struck by the vehicle.

“(The officer) was standing in the lane of traffic at the time. It’s a common practice for officers to use a laser or radar when pulling into traffic instead of stopping the driver,” Coleman said.

ABC13 asked if the common practice was to stand in a traffic lane rather than on the grass or a sidewalk.

“They can,” Coleman replied. “They usually do because that way, if you stay off to the side and you’re not in the way, you’re usually kind of hidden. So if you stay out there, they’ll never see you.”

The officer was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition, but has injuries, according to HPD.

Eyewitness News was on the scene and the AT’s windshield&T’s work truck was smashed.

Asked whether the driver would be ticketed even if the officer was not in a crosswalk, Coleman said: “Well, the difference between you as a pedestrian and an officer in full gear doing a mission like that is that he’s kind of an authorized personnel who can do that kind of thing.”

It is not known whether the driver will be fined. He remained at the scene.

“Our thoughts and best wishes go out to the officer involved in this accident. We expect our employees to follow the rules of the road and we will investigate to determine what happened here. We will cooperate with law enforcement in this matter. As this is an ongoing investigation, we refer you to law enforcement for any additional information at this time,” AT said.&T told ABC13 in a statement.

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