Close call: Virginia officer avoids vehicle that hits car during traffic stop

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — A Virginia police officer had a close call as an out-of-control vehicle driven by a teen at more than 120 mph spun across a median and struck a car during a traffic stop, authorities said.

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The frightening incident on Monday occurred while a Fairfax County Police Department officer was conducting a traffic stop, WRC-TV reported.

According to a news release, the officer was on the Fairfax County Parkway speaking to the driver of a gray 2012 BMW 750 Series he had pulled over. The car was stopped on the southbound shoulder of the highway at about 11:38 a.m. EDT and the officer was speaking to the motorist through the passenger’s window, police said.

That is when a black 2018 BMW M3 driven by a 17-year-old careened across the median from the northbound lane and smashed into the stopped car, clipping the officer as he scrambled away in time, WUSA-TV reported.

“It’s just miraculous that we’re not talking under different circumstances,” Fairfax County Police Department Chief Kevin Davis said during a news conference on Tuesday. “It really, really is.”

The officer, who was not identified, kept his composure despite nearly being seriously injured or even killed.

“My cruiser was hit,” the officer radioed to dispatch after he hopped the guardrail and circled back toward the stopped vehicle. “Driver was hit. I’m trying to check on injuries.”

“(The officer’s) grace under pressure was calm, cool, collected,” Davis said. “He hops over that guardrail and immediately gets on the radio. Immediately. I mean, that’s extraordinary.”

The officer sustained minor injuries, police said.

The adult driver who had been pulled over on the traffic stop was taken to an area hospital with minor injuries, according to WUSA. They have since been released. The teen driver and their two juvenile passengers also sustained minor injuries.

The driver whose vehicle crossed the median was ticketed for reckless driving, a misdemeanor, WRC reported.

“It was going way too fast,” Davis said during the news conference. “It was a rocket and then it became a missile.”