Laguna Beach : Truck Hits Patrol Car, Injures Officer
A local police officer was in serious condition Sunday night with back injuries and a concussion after a 2 1/2-ton truck rammed into the back of his patrol car on Coast Highway, authorities said.
Officer John Fehlman stopped at the intersection of the highway and Pearl Street at 2:37 p.m. to yield to a pedestrian. The driver of a truck behind him “wasn’t paying close enough attention” and, after trying to stop abruptly, hit the patrol vehicle at about 35 miles an hour, said Sgt. Lance Ishmael of the Laguna Beach Police Department.
Fehlman, who Ishmael said is in his late 20s and has been on the force for five years, was airlifted to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo and placed in the intensive care unit overnight for observation.
A nursing supervisor there said he had suffered a spinal cord injury and a concussion and was listed in serious condition.
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