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CHP Officer Hit With Stolen Construction Truck, Horrifying

By Antonio J. Newell
Published on: 20:54 PST, Apr 7, 2016

CHP Officer Michael Ericson was hit by a man in a stolen construction truck. Officer Ericson is a California Highway Patrolman (motorcyclist) who was caught in a bad situation.

According to reports, CHP Officer Ericson was on Interstate 80, in North Sacramento, when the accident occurred. Actually, it wasn’t an accident. This officer was involved in a willful hit and run.

Reportedly, the CHP officer and the assailant were on the shoulder of Interstate 80. Since the vehicle was stolen, the suspect decided to flee the scene. However, before he did that — as reports CBS-13 Sacramento — he hit the CHP officer and left him to fend for himself. The source says that the assailant backed the stolen Bay Cities Paving and Grating construction truck into Officer Ericson.

Fortunately, Sharon McIntyre — a member of the Sacramento Fire Department — witnessed part of the hit and run situation. According to the news source, she mentioned, “Vehicles were stopping and a thing that struck me as odd was that people were turning in multiple directions and bailing out of their cars.”

After stopping to help, she said she noticed the CHP officer was down, and she radioed for backup. The report notes that McIntyre left her personal vehicle in the center median in order to help Officer Ericson after he had been hit.

Once help arrived, CHP Officer Ericson was rushed to the University of California Davis Medical Center for treatment of his injuries. While the CHP officer was being hospitalized, the hit and run pursuit continued. The news source mentioned that various agencies pulled together to catch the suspect.

Likewise, the source notes that the assailant attempted to evade CHP officers. However, officers got ahead of him and threw spike strips in front of his vehicle. Then the suspect tried backing down the freeway toward oncoming traffic in order to get away from officers, yet CHP was hot on his trail and didn’t give him much room to make his moves.

The reports mentioned that officers thought he was going run on-foot. However, once he got out of the truck, he surrendered with both hands in the air. Specifically, CBS-13 Sacramento mentions as follows:

“After that, he proceeds to try to jump out of the passenger side door. When he jumps out he notices he’s cornered. He puts his hands up, ‘OK, OK’.”

Apparently, CHP officers chased the suspect nearly an hour away from the initial location where he hit Officer Ericson.

According to the source, CHP Officer Ericson is a 17-year veteran of the force. And while they didn’t necessarily know the officer’s condition during their suspect apprehension, the news source mentioned that CHP was hoping for the best and helping in any way they could.

Bystander Ferris Oliver mentioned that the entire situation resembled something out of a movie scene. Although the hit and run circumstance might have looked familiar, it wasn’t something CHP officers wanted on their hearts.

A CHP spokesperson, Officer Tommy Riggin, offered nothing but positive things about the hit and run victim. He mentioned as follows.

“He’s assigned to the North Sacramento office. He’s one of motorcycle officers. They have a really tight knit group there, that I’ve been told, and again he’s just a phenomenal officer, does his job, keeps the freeways moving, and make sure everybody safe. It’s just disheartening that something like this can happen.”

Nevertheless, at the moment, sources mention that Officer Ericson’s condition is unknown to the public, yet CHP officers are hoping that Ericson makes a full recovery.

In addition, CHP officers mentioned that they hadn’t seen this particular degree of public participation and situation awareness in a long time.

While the public was cooperative with CHP officers, the report says that the assailant badly damaged the construction truck and was found without shoes.

All in all, do you think CHP Officer Ericson is okay? What do you think will happen to the assailant? Feel free to share your thoughts in comments below.

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