Dallas police officer dies after his SUV is hit by wrong-way driver, tractor-trailer
Dallas police Officer Jacob Arellano, 25, died Wednesday morning at a hospital after he was critically injured in an accident caused by a wrong-way driver shortly before midnight Tuesday night, police said.
According to a Dallas Police Department blog post, the officer was on his way to work and driving in the middle lane of three lanes on northbound Spur 408 near West Kiest Boulevard. A sedan going the wrong way hit the front left of his SUV.
As a result of the head-on collision, Arellano’s vehicle was pushed into the right lane, where it was hit by a tractor-trailer, police said. The SUV rolled several times before stopping on the right shoulder of the road.
The officer was taken to a local hospital and was initially reported in critical condition, and the wrong-way driver was taken to a local hospital in serious condition. The tractor-trailer driver wasn’t injured.
According to an early Wednesday morning tweet by Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia, the officer was “fighting in critical condition.”
Prayers up Dallas! One of our @DallasPD officers, reporting for his watch late last night, was struck head on by a wrong way driver in a major collision, and is fighting in critical condition. Our prayers are with our officer and his family.
— Eddie Garcia (@DPDChiefGarcia) October 12, 2022
Later Wednesday morning, police said that Arellano died at the hospital.
Police haven’t released the names of the other drivers involved in the crash. The preliminary investigation has determined the wrong-way driver may have been intoxicated, police said in a news release.
“Our prayers are with our officer and his family,” Garcia tweeted.
WFAA-TV reported that all northbound lanes of traffic were shut down for a time while police investigated the collision.
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