HUTCHINS, Texas — Two police officers and two firefighters were injured Monday when an SUV slammed into a squad car that then hit the first responders while they were checking on a car accident.
Wilmer officer Alex Lopez was one of the officers at the scene.
“Myself along with the Hutchins police officer, two Hutchins firefighters are standing in front of this vehicle,” said Officer Lopez.
Officer Lopez was on a routine call checking out a one-car accident when all of a sudden he and other first responders were knocked to the ground.
"The sound was like errrrkkkk," he said. "That's all I heard and got knocked back."
At first he says he didn't know what hit him, but the dash camera video shows it all. It shows exactly what happened as an out-of-control SUV slams into one of their squad cars, spinning it around and hitting them.
"I got up and saw everybody on the ground. Two firefighters on the ground. One on the roadway and one on my right next to vehicle," he said.
One firefighter is knocked to the middle of the road as cars speed by. He's in the hospital with broken ribs.
Officer Lopez body camera video captures the second he goes to the ground. You hear him scream in pain.
"I have scrapes and bruises, and I’m real sore, but thank God it could have been worse," he said.
The driver isn't being charged, but state law mandates that drivers move over or slow down when they see first responders on the side of the road.
The Dallas Sheriff's Office says at the time of the accident, they were working on nine other weather related accidents at the same time. They say in this case, four first responders could have been killed because someone was going too fast in those wet conditions.