Police suspect a drunken driver rammed into the back of a Northlake Police Department SUV in Westlake at about 4 a.m. Thursday, causing a chain-reaction crash.
Investigators said the driver of a pickup truck was going more than 60 mph when he rear-ended the officer that was stopped at a red light at state highway 170 and 377 near the Fort Worth city limit.
The impact sent the police SUV into the intersection and into an 18-wheeler that was eastbound on state Highway 170.
The police officer was transporting an inmate to the Denton County Jail. The male inmate, sitting in the back seat, felt the brunt of the crash.
Both the officer and the inmate were flown to the hospital by CareFlite, but police say they are expected to survive.
The driver of the pickup was taken to the hospital by an ambulance and is in police custody. Police are investigating him for possible intoxication. They say they found a few empty beer cans in his truck.
The intersection reopened just after 7 a.m. after being closed for more than two hours while an accident team investigated and cleaned up the crash site.
