Terrifying dashcam footage shows the moment an alleged drunk driver slammed headfirst into the police cruiser driven by a cop who was looking for him.
“Deputy looking for DUI suspect finds him the hard way,” Virginia officials said on Facebook Wednesday.
The Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office was on the hunt for the reportedly inebriated driver around 2:45 p.m. Dec 1 after receiving numerous calls reporting his suspicious behavior.
Senior Deputy Tibor Kreiter was driving along a countryside two-lane road roughly 50 miles north of Richmond when the very truck he was searching for quickly came into view from oncoming traffic.
The truck failed to follow the curve of the roadway and barreled clear across the yellow dividing line — straight into Kreiter’s patrol car.
The footage shows that Kreiter tried to swerve off the road and out of the way, but was blocked by trees on his right and other traveling cars on his left.
The accused drunk driver swiped the left side of the patrol car with such force that it shot off the back wheel. Debris from the totaled car was left littering the street.
Fortunately, Kreiter, who is assigned to the traffic division, was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The alleged drunk driver, 57-year-old John Anthony Fields, was arrested at the scene and charged with driving under the influence, reckless driving, and failure to drive on the right side of the highway.
He was placed in the Central Virginia Regional Jail and later released on bond.
Spotsylvania Sheriff Roger Harris said he was “extremely thankful” that no one was seriously harmed in the collision.
Virginia has some of the harshest drunken driving laws in the country, according to the DMV.
A driver convicted of a first DUI offense faces a minimum punishment of a $250 fine and the revocation of the driver’s license for one year.
