THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 17, 1996 TAG: 9605180349
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
A Lakeland High School student who was driving to school Thursday morning was charged with reckless driving after her car ran into the back of a police cruiser. The cruiser was in the roadway while the officer was investigating an accident.
The officer, the 17-year-old driver - whose name was not released by police - and two students who were passengers in her car were taken to Obici Hospital. All were treated for injuries in the emergency room and then released, said police spokesman Mike Simpkins.
The accident happened about 7:35 a.m. on Route 58 - Holland Road - about a mile west of Chappell Drive.
The policeman, David F. Burke, 40, was sitting in his vehicle, a 1994 Chevrolet, completing paper work from an earlier accident involving a tractor-trailer that had overturned in the median. The police car was eastbound in the inside lane of the four-lane, divided highway when the teen's car, a 1987 Nissan, hit it, police said.
The teen apparently was distracted by the tractor-trailer and did not see the police car in time to stop, according to an investigation by Officer D.M. Smith.
Both cars were losses, police said.
Eastbound traffic was backed up for several miles for about 40 minutes.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT TRAFFIC INJURIES ARREST
by CNB