A Pooler police officer was at home recovering from injuries Friday night after a motorist struck him with a car during a traffic stop earlier in the day.
Officer James Self was standing at a motorist’s window on Jimmy DeLoach Parkway near the Hunt Club subdivision about 6:30 a.m. when he was struck by a car being driven by a 67-year-old Bloomingdale man, said Pooler Police Chief Mark Revenew.
Self was hit by the right side of the car Edward Martin was driving, said Georgia State Patrol Sgt. 1st Class Chris Nease, whose agency is investigating the wreck.
The blue lights on Self’s patrol car were activated and the officer was “highly visible,” Revenew said.
After being struck, Self, while lying injured, was able to call for help on his damaged radio, the police chief said.
The seven-year veteran officer was taken to a hospital for treatment of his injuries and released in the afternoon. Martin was uninjured, Nease said. Police said Martin remained on scene after the wreck.
The wreck was captured on video that troopers have reviewed, Nease said.
“There will be charges,” he said Friday night.
The investigation by the state patrol is ongoing. Nease said the speed Martin’s vehicle was traveling was not immediately known.
“This was a totally preventable accident,” Revenew said. “If people would respect construction workers, police officers, any maintenance workers and take time to move over, this was totally preventable.”
In Georgia, motorists are required by law to move over one lane if possible when emergency vehicles of any kind are working on the side of the road. There are two lanes in each direction where the officer was struck.
“If people take a small amount of time to move over, we can stop these injuries and deaths,”
Revenew said.