ANNANDALE, Va. — A trooper was injured early Tuesday after a crash escalated on the interstate in Annandale and a car struck him.
A Virginia State Police trooper responded to a sedan that had stopped in a northbound lane of I-495 near Exit 52 around 3 a.m. in Fairfax County. The driver was still in the car and refused to get out after the trooper asked, as well as moving it to a safer location on the shoulder.
While the trooper was trying to work with the driver, a Jeep Cherokee struck a tractor-trailer that has stopped due to the travel lane being closed by the sedan. The impact caused the Jeep to spin around and hit the trooper's patrol car, which then struck the sedan, which then hit the trooper. The trooper was standing next to the driver's side of the sedan at the time of the collision.
The trooper suffered injuries considered to be minor, and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
At the time of the crash, the trooper's car was behind the sedan with its emergency lights on. The sedan's driver, who was inside the car when it was struck, was also treated for injuries, considered to not be serious. The driver was later identified as 43-year-old Erica D. Bernard of Albright, W. Virginia.
Albright was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs (DUID), obstruction, possession of a schedule I or schedule II substance, refusal of a blood/breath test, and improperly stopping a vehicle on a highway. The driver of the Jeep, Joanna Hatch of Arlington, was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), according to police.
Both Hatch and Bernard were taken to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.
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