Rammed By Pickup, Cop Survives

Deputy Hit During Traffic Stop Cheats Death; Watch the video

(CBS/AP)  A sheriff's deputy helping a woman whose car was stuck in a ditch along a busy highway was slammed by a pickup truck, but escaped with only minor injuries.

Bridgette Bornstein of WCCO-TV in Minneapolis reports that conditions were wet when the woman's vehicle slid off the road. Then, the pickup barreled onto the scene, nicking the edge of the state patrol car, grazing the woman, and ramming right into Ramsey County Deputy Glen Pothen, 35.

It was caught on video by a state patrol vehicle.

The man driving the pickup, Va Meng Vang, tells Bornstein he saw the flashing lights, but because the road curved, he didn't have much notice. He tried to veer out of the way, but lost control.

"It was so slippery, so my truck slides down (into a ditch where Pothen and the woman he was assisting were standing)," Meng Vang says. "I tried to brake in my truck and I tried to move to the left lane."

It was unclear whether he would face charges, though he says his truck was seized.

"Anyone that watches that tape will say, 'Why is he alive?'" remarked Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher.