‘We were lucky’: Police officer’s near miss with out of control car

A police officer has been filmed in a wild near miss with an out of control car during a traffic stop.

The Idaho State Police shared video of the incident, which occurred last Wednesday on Interstate 84, calling the officer in the footage “very lucky”.

The officer is seen standing next to a pulled over Toyota in the median strip. He’s helping the driver with a flat tyre who is seen crouching in front of him.

But suddenly a Chevrolet ute appears and smashes into the Toyota.

The police officer leaps over the concrete wall while the man next to him jumps out of the way to avoid the collision.

Debris lies on the road. Such is the sheer force of the crash, the Toyota is completely moved from where it was parked.

The ute, and another in the lane beside it, come to a stop.

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Police said the crash was the result of a “chain reaction”. The ute was slowing down, attempting to pass the cars on the median strip.

“That vehicle was hit by another, causing a chain reaction of four eastbound vehicles,” police said.

“Two involved pickups were pushed left, sideswiping the parked patrol car and hitting the rear of the Toyota.”

'Truly life or death'

Sergeant Brandalyn Crapo, who responded to the crash, said “we were very lucky”.

“These situations are too common and truly life or death,” she said.

“Please, pay attention to emergency vehicles, pay attention to other cars around you who are slowing down or changing lanes to give responders safe room to work. We want to go home at the end of the night and we need motorists' full attention to do that."

The crash remains under investigation. Both the police officer and the man he was helping received minor injuries.

Viewers of the crash were thankful no one was seriously hurt.

“How the flip did that happen?” one woman wrote.

Another woman wrote she was “horrified” in seeing the ute hurtle towards the Toyota.

“My heart just jumped out of my chest. Holy cow,” another woman wrote.

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