City police officer injured in crash at intersection
By John Joyce
Published in News on February 12, 2015 1:46 PM
A Goldsboro police officer was injured Wednesday when his vehicle was struck by another driver at the intersection of East Ash Street and North Berkeley Boulevard.
The wreck happened at 1:35 p.m.
Officer Claude Jackson, 50, used his police cruiser to block traffic in the intersection so that another officer and several citizens could help push a disabled vehicle out of the roadway, according to a GPD accident report.
Jackson then went to move his vehicle, still with his blue lights and siren on, when an "unknown blue vehicle" came through the intersection and almost struck the people pushing the disabled car.
According to the report, Jackson tried to make a left turn then to follow and stop the car that blew through the intersection, and that is when his vehicle was hit by an oncoming car.
The driver of the car that struck Jackson's, Beneatta Smith, 54, of Stadium Drive, said she did not notice Jackson's vehicle, the report said.
Mrs. Smith was cited for failure to heed blue lights and sirens.
Both Jackson and Mrs. Smith were transported to Wayne Memorial Hospital to be checked out.
The Goldsboro Police Department declined to comment when called, but rather released the following statement via email: "Our officer was transported by EMS to Wayne Memorial ER for a joint pain complaint. The officer was treated and released. The officer did miss work today and is at home resting.
"Witnesses to the crash indicated to the investigating officer that the injured officer had taken control of the intersection, was using his emergency equipment to include his blue light and siren when the accident occurred, so yes, he was doing everything properly."