VAN NUYS : Motorcycle Officer Badly Injured in Crash
A motorcycle officer apparently driving the wrong way on a busy Van Nuys street was critically injured in an early morning collision Wednesday, prompting police to shut down several major streets for three hours, authorities said.
Officer Raymond A. (Skip) Messerly Jr. of Acton was riding east in the westbound lanes of Victory Boulevard when his motorcycle collided with a car making a left turn, police said.
Messerly, 42, was on life-support systems at Northridge Hospital Medical Center with severe injuries to the neck and brain stem.
Other officers speculated that Messerly probably rode into the oncoming lane to get around heavy rush-hour traffic while chasing a traffic violator.
The car’s driver, London Crouch, 24, of Los Angeles, was trapped for a time in the wreckage. She was not cited.
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