Renton police: Driver intentionally rams cop car at red light
RENTON, Wash. - A Renton police officer suffered multiple injuries Friday night when the driver of a pickup truck deliberately rammed the officer's patrol car at an intersection.
Renton police say the incident began at about 8 p.m. when the officer was stopped behind another vehicle at a red light at the intersection of Edmonds Avenue NE and Sunset Boulevard NE.
As the officer was waiting for the light to turn green, a Chevy Avalanche pickup driven by a 38-year-old man turned right onto Edmonds Avenue NE from Sunset Boulevard, said Cmdr. Clark Wilcox of the Renton police.
The driver of the pickup then intentionally steered toward the patrol car, slamming into the right rear door and quarter panel of the police car.
The 36-year-old officer did not see the pickup coming, Wilcox said. The officer sustained multiple injuries from the impact, but was able to prevent the pickup driver from fleeing the scene.
Other police units and medics rushed to the scene. The injured officer was rushed to Valley Medical Center for treatment of injuries to the head, shoulder and back. He is expected to recover.
The driver of the pickup was uninjured. He was arrested and booked into jail for investigation of assault with a vehicle. It is not known whether he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Renton police continue to investigate the crash.
Renton police say the incident began at about 8 p.m. when the officer was stopped behind another vehicle at a red light at the intersection of Edmonds Avenue NE and Sunset Boulevard NE.
As the officer was waiting for the light to turn green, a Chevy Avalanche pickup driven by a 38-year-old man turned right onto Edmonds Avenue NE from Sunset Boulevard, said Cmdr. Clark Wilcox of the Renton police.
The driver of the pickup then intentionally steered toward the patrol car, slamming into the right rear door and quarter panel of the police car.
The 36-year-old officer did not see the pickup coming, Wilcox said. The officer sustained multiple injuries from the impact, but was able to prevent the pickup driver from fleeing the scene.
Other police units and medics rushed to the scene. The injured officer was rushed to Valley Medical Center for treatment of injuries to the head, shoulder and back. He is expected to recover.
The driver of the pickup was uninjured. He was arrested and booked into jail for investigation of assault with a vehicle. It is not known whether he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Renton police continue to investigate the crash.
Let's start taking bets. Intentional or unintentional? Drunk or not? Mental illness or no?
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I say unintentional drunk.
I kept reading the accident's description over and over, and still couldn't figure out how it happened. Presumably, the officer was on Edmonds, waiting behind another car. The pickup turns right onto Edmonds from Sunset, so the police car would be facing the pickup, but on the left. Then how did the pickup truck hit the right side of the police car? Did he make a U-turn to come up behind the police car?
So, the officer didn't see him coming, but they know it was intentional??
After breakfast I think I will get in the car and go ram the first one I see.WTH is with people?Wasn't Renton just named one of the best small towns?Glad the cop is ok,and we all hope this person gets the help they so desperatly need.
@F4I I think it was REDMOND that was named 5th best small town.
Is it just me or do KOMO story's lack any quality or substance more than usual during the weekend? Glad the cop is ok, hope that they update the story so we can have some actual facts about what really happened.Â
Waiting to see if it was actually intentional since the officer didn't know it was happening. Must be part of the article missing that explains how this conclusion was obtained. Full reporting about all the facts would probably alleviate those types of questions.
"..was able to prevent the pickup driver from fleeing the scene."
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Hmm.... Was the driver really trying to flee? Interesting. Anymore, it's not hard to imagine something like this being intentional. Especially in that part of Renton, it's not the nicest area. We'll just have to wait for more details.
 @KOMO Viewer Seriously? This is the area where people leave their houses without locking, or even leave their garage door open.
Wow, when I see a cop or sheriff's vehicle, the last thing that goes through my mind is to ram into it. Mostly because, no matter how angry I might be, I know the consequences of doing such and that deters me from doing it. What is it that has allowed us to become such fools as to knowingly do something that will land us in jail? What has occurred in the human brain to let us override our commonsense and risk death by finding out what it feels like to shoot and kill an innocent person, knowing that we will be killed or land in jail for a very long time? I cannot fathom what has happened to our 'civilized' society to think that we can either get away with such behavior or we don't have any respect for human life including our own. What has created this change? Is it the lack of religion in our society? or are we so narcissitic that we think our emotions are the only ones that count? All I do know is that we have become a very scary species of mammals
@chickysgirl Three hots and a cot
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whooooaaaaaaaa. lets see if it was actually intentional or not.
 @SwampThing Yeah, waxing philosophic about something as simple as a news story about a possibly drunk dude, possibly ramming a cop car is a bit much, lol.
 @IlBrutto13 To ram or not to ram? That is the question.Â
He's lucky the officer didn't fire some shots into him for attempted murder. Assault with a vehicle needs to be the same as with any other deadly weapon. Guilty of manslaughter should face death just like someone who murders with any other weapon.Â
Kiro is saying intentional too, although they add the caveat that the police told them it was intentional. Hope he gets some mental help, because you have to be a few kinds of screwed up in the head to do that.
like others have posted - how does anyone know this was intentional? because the cop says so? witness? anyones' guess?
I tried to tell the cops the same thing when a woman waited a good ten seconds (with headlights bouncing like she was hesistating on the brake) until I was in the intersection before she gunned the engine and rammed into me and my motorcycle. Nice double standard. But I hope the cop recovers.
How can KOMO report this as "intentional" when they have provided absolutely no evidence to substantiate that claim?
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I'm dumbfounded yet again by KOMO's reporting.Â
@caphillkid I don't think the burden of proof lies with KOMO, but with the police and the prosecuting attorney. KOMO will report anything that gets viewers and readers, true or not.
Chances are the idiot was texting or doing some other idiotic thing and lost control of the truck. This is why I get nervous around big trucks and behemoth SUV's, people can barely drive as it is, add a 20 ton obese steel cage on wheels to the equation and the outcome is not good
Must like jail.
Hope the Officer will be okay...................
So far there are no witnessess and we really don't know what happened. Â Was it intential or drugs involved like someone else said. Â I find it hard to believe drugs were not involved to some extent.
If the cop didn't see him coming and they're only investigating the presence of drugs or alcohol, who's to say this guy did it intentionally? Nothing in this article shows any evidence that he did it intentionally..
 @bagsofdirt That's what I was wondering.....did the guy admit, "Hey I tried to take you out right there"? I'm sure there is more to the story and this is yet another example of KOMO reporting at it's finest.
I highly recommend NOT to do this.
Useless POS...The police and city should tally up medical bills, timeoff work costs, car replacement costs, and any other costs, and then multiply that total cost figure by a factor of 5, and give the looser the bill, with 30 days to pay up. He does not pay up...then off to prison for life (so he could never do this again).
 @Mikefly562 Life in prison for ramming a cop car, thats a bit harsh. But I suppose its better than calling for instant execution like most of the people on here do.
Classy, can we also bill the driver for the medical bills and the repair/replacement of the police vehicle that the public will now be bearing?Â
 @Citizen#3457899654 Yes, if it is shown to be really his fault, then he will be billed and likely his insurance will pay.
 @JLS1950  @Citizen#3457899654 And if we are really lucky the fool will have to declare bankruptcy thus screwing up the rest of his life for good, on top of the jail time of course.
@JLS1950 @Citizen#3457899654Â If the douche bag has insurance, that is.Â