DUI Suspect Rams Whittier Patrol Car, Sending It Into Another Vehicle

SANTA FE SPRINGS (CBSLA.com) — A Whittier police officer has been hospitalized with minor injuries after his vehicle collided with a suspected drunken driver.

The crash may have been caused when a motorist ran a red light at Florence Avenue and Orr and Day Road, California Highway Patrol Officer Monica Posada said.

The officer was heading eastbound on Florence around 12:40 a.m. Saturday when his patrol car was rammed by a Ford Focus traveling southbound on Orr and Day, Posada said. The impact pushed the cruiser into the path of another vehicle.

All three drivers were taken to hospitals.

Preliminary investigations suggested alcohol may have been a factor in the first collision, Posada said.

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