LEXINGTON PARK — Oct. 2, 2013— On October 1, 2013 at approximately 5:17pm, Deputy Bankhead, of the Patrol Division, was responding to an emergency call for service to assist another officer on a traffic stop. Deputy Bankhead was on duty operating a marked 2005 Ford Crown Victoria traveling southbound on Maryland Route 235 in Lexington Park, Maryland with lights and siren activated.
Police say that as Deputy Bankhead entered the intersection of Route 235 and Corporate Drive his vehicle collided with a 2003 BMW 530I driven by Anthony Wright. The BMW was turning left onto northbound Route 235 at the time of the collision.
Fire and Emergency Medical Services Personnel responded to the scene. Neither operator of the vehicles involved was transported to the hospital. No injuries were reported.
Both vehicles sustained significant damage and were towed from the scene.
Deputy Bankhead was placed on Administrative Duty pending the outcome of the accident investigation.
Department policy and the law requires emergency vehicles on calls with lights and sirens to slow when entering an intersection and to avoid vehicles not yielding to their emergency call. Plowing into another vehicle didn’t get Deputy Bankhead to the scene of aiding the other deputy, but the few seconds extra which would have been lost by yielding would still have enabled the officer to arrive and render assistance.