HOUSTON – An officer with the Houston Police Department and an off-duty officer with the Pasadena Police Department are in the hospital after a crash Thursday, authorities said.
It happened in the 6000 block of S. Sam Houston Parkway E. around 3 a.m.
According to investigators, two HPD patrol officers located a Ford Explorer that stopped in the moving lanes of the westbound feeder road. Officers discovered the driver was passed out in the driver’s seat, authorities said. Police said the officers were able to get the man out of the vehicle and one of them tended to the driver.
Police said the other officer was stopped near the middle lanes with their emergency lights on. A Toyota Tundra pickup truck that was being driven by an off-duty officer with Pasadena PD was traveling westbound and struck the HPD patrol unit, causing the patrol vehicle to hit another vehicle, investigators said.
Authorities said both the HPD officer, who is reportedly a 15-year veteran, and the off-duty Pasadena PD officer, who has been with the department since July 2019, were transported to the hospital for minor injuries. The driver of the other vehicle was not injured in the crash, police said.
Police said they are trying to determine if the driver of the Ford Explorer was experiencing a medical emergency when he was found or if alcohol was a factor in the incident.
An investigation is currently underway.