A Silt police officer narrowly avoided injury while a passenger in her patrol vehicle for a ridealong sustained minor injuries when a driver failed to stop for traffic on Interstate 70 on Friday, a Silt police news release states.

The chaos occurred while the New Castle Police Department was conducting a high-risk traffic stop regarding an alleged stolen vehicle on I-70 Friday afternoon. Silt police were assisting in traffic control during the stop and traffic in both lanes of I-70 were at a standstill for the operation when a vehicle failed to stop.

“A single vehicle continued traveling at a very high rate of speed through the middle of both lanes of stopped (eastbound) traffic, side-swiped a stopped semi tractor-trailer then t-boned a marked Silt Police vehicle that had its emergency lighting activated while parked across I-70 traffic,” the release states. “The force of the impact spun the patrol vehicle around a full 180 degrees. The Silt police officer, who was only 10 minutes into her shift, was standing outside her vehicle at the time and was able to run out of the way to avoid being struck herself. A civilian ride-along was sitting in the Silt police vehicle when it was struck.”

The passenger sustained minor injuries and was transported to Grand River Hospital for treatment, the release states. Colorado State Patrol are investigating the crash, which resulted in a closure of I-70 eastbound for several hours, although it is open again to traffic as of Friday evening, the release states. Information on any charges against the driver of the vehicle which caused the crash was not immediately available.

It’s the third instance in less than two weeks of a law enforcement officer and/or vehicle being struck while in the line of duty, one of which resulted in the death of a Golden police officer earlier in November.

“We are extremely lucky that our officer was able to run out of the way and not take the full brunt of the impact by this incredibly foolish driver today,” the release states. “We are extremely lucky that the civilian ride-along did not sustain serious injury, and that no one else was injured or worse.”