CHARLOTTE — An officer with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is recovering at home after getting into a head-on crash early Wednesday morning.
Police said it happened in front of an east Charlotte home on Winterfield Place just before 2 a.m.
Channel 9′s Eli Brand was at the scene Wednesday, off Albemarle Road, where he could still see debris on the ground and remnants of the collision.
PJ Coyne lives nearby and witnessed the crash. He told Channel 9, “I heard a big bang, we looked out the window, and saw a silver sedan that was in her yard.”
A big bang caused by a CMPD cruiser and sedan hitting head on.
CMPD said it started when officers tried to pull over a car with a fake tag. They said the car drove away without its headlights on, resulting in the crash.
“Within seconds, two more units came speeding down the road,” Coyne said.
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After responding officers arrived at the scene, Coyne said they focused on getting the person in the sedan out.
“I heard them yelling at the person to get out of the car and then after they got that person out of the car, we saw them put him in cuffs. By that time, an ambulance had shown up and we saw an officer laying down on the ground,” Coyne said.
CMPD said the officer involved in the crash was taken to the hospital but has since been released.
The suspect was also arrested.
A tow truck removed both cars from the road after crime scene investigators collected evidence.
“They were here...pretty much all morning. So yeah, it was startling,” Coyne said, adding a situation of this magnitude is definitely unusual in that neighborhood.
Check wsoctv.com for updates.
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