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A Baltimore cop was critically injured when she plunged 30 feet to the ground from an elevated roadway.
She will probably survive, but her life is irrevocably changed as she faces years more surgeries.
She had stopped her cop car behind a disabled car on the narrow shoulder of the roadway. She got out to assist. A tow truck showed up. The cop was between the passenger side of the disabled and the jersey barrier that was the edge of the roadway. A car approached, struck the cop car, drove it into the disabled and thence into the tow truck. In the movement of all the vehicles, the cop was struck and knocked over the jersey wall to the ground below.
The accident is still under investigation and no arrests have been made or charges sought.
Maryland has a "move over" law. If you come upon any vehicle stopped on the shoulder, the law says you're to move over a lane and slow down as you pass.
I never knew of this law until this news story, where it was highlighted, but have always done the "move over." My Dad taught me to do it way back when I was a kid.
That cop would be okay today if another driver had done the same thing. This may well have been a true accident, by the way. The driver wasn't speeding and wasn't drinking. The back of the cop car was protruding into the travel lane. The road is notoriously narrow and notoriously dangerous. Many cops won't make any but emergency stops on it. The accident was during rush hour, on an uphill with limited sight lines. The "move over" may not have been possible.
Still, the lesson is there. If you can, slow down and move over when you see activity on the side of the road. Its just a decent thing to do, seems to me.
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