A California Highway Patrol officer escaped serious injuries
Wednesday after his patrol car rolled while he was pursuing a
suspect on Frazier Lake Road.
A California Highway Patrol officer escaped serious injuries Wednesday after his patrol car rolled while he was pursuing a suspect on Frazier Lake Road.
Officer Bryan Demarah, 23, was taken by helicopter to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center where he is being treated for numerous cuts and bruises, the CHP said.
“When I hear an officer is involved in a rollover and I get here and he is trapped in the vehicle, my heart’s dying. It’s real hard,” CHP Capt. Bob Davies said. “Until I can climb over the fence and get down there to talk to him face-to-face and see that he’s OK, it’s difficult.”
The 4:28 p.m. accident occurred when Demarah was on patrol near the San Benito-Santa Clara County line when he spotted a vehicle that matched the description of a possible suspect vehicle with a person wanted for questioning.
However, when he attempted to stop the car, the driver fled southbound Frazier Lake Road.
“As he came around a moderate curve, just south of the San Benito-Santa Clara County line, he lost control of the patrol car and it slid sideways across the lane, down into an eastside drainage ditch and rolled over one time,” Davies said.
With Demarah’s patrol unit disabled, the suspect vehicle sped off. A description of the vehicle was not available by press time today.
Firefighters from both San Benito and Santa Clara counties responded to the scene, forced open the car, pulled Demarah out and rushed him to a waiting helicopter.
Although there were no obvious signs of severe trauma, Davies said the trip to the hospital was a necessary precaution.
“We’re taking him to the hospital for X-rays and a complete examination, because any time you are in a vehicle rollover you never know what has been jarred and jostled,” Davies said.
From the physical evidence at the scene, it appeared that while Demarah was chasing the suspect car, one of his tires may have come into contact with the dirt shoulder just off the eastern side of the rural road.
“You can see on the skid marks where he just lost it,” Davies said. “The difference between the traction on the asphalt and the traction on the gravel is significant.”
Despite the exterior damage to the patrol car, the passenger compartment was relatively undamaged.
Demarah, a member of the Hollister-Gilroy CHP unit for two years, helped protect himself from serious injuries with the use of advanced defensive driving techniques.
“He was able to make what we call a soft roll, the air bags didn’t deploy,” Davies said.
The pursuit was a relatively lower speed affair at the time of the accident, Davies said.
“The speed doesn’t seem to be excessive. It wasn’t high speed. I’m sure it was well under 80 mph,” he said.
Even though CHP officers receive extensive training in pursuit techniques, mistakes still occur.
“The reality is that the Highway Patrol travels 40 million miles a year and these things are going to happen, there’s no doubt about it,” Davies said.
“I think his ego may have been more seriously injured than his body,” he added.
