Police officer involved in serious crash

Police officer involved in serious crash

Two people including a Lexington police officer were recovering Sunday night after a serious car crash. The collision happened earlier Sunday afternoon at the intersection of Manchester Street and the brand new Oliver Lewis Way in downtown Lexington.

The drivers of the two vehicles involved were taken to UK Hospital. Officer Kevin Jones was treated for neck injuries and released. However the driver of the other car, 70-year-old John Chew of Lexington sustained much more serious injuries. He underwent surgery Sunday evening and was listed in critical condition.

Oliver Lewis Way is so new that the intersection with Manchester Street hadn't even been mapped by collision reconstruction teams before this crash. "The road just opened on Wednesday, so we're not even a full week of the road being open yet," Lexington Police Lieutenant Chris Van Brackel said.

Police say the officer driving the cruiser was on normal patrol duty, when a Mercury Sable appeared unexpectedly. "The witnesses right now have told us that the Sable was coming south on the brand new Oliver Lewis Way here and went through the red light at Manchester Street," Van Brackel said, "The officer was coming inbound on Manchester Street with a green light, tried to stop to avoid hitting the Sable, but did strike that car."

Investigators say the officer locked up his breaks trying to stop in time. What they say is unclear is whether the sun may have blinded the driver of the Sable. "One of the things we're going to have to look at later is, what was the lighting conditions?" Van Brackel said, "Do we have a situation where maybe the driver of the Sable couldn't see his light to know whether it was green or red."

Police say they were not able to get any information about the crash from Mr. Chew, who was unconscious by the time emergency responders arrived at the collision.

Collision reconstruction teams spent several hours investigating the crash site. Police say because it's the weekend, the impact on traffic was minimal. The intersection of Oliver Lewis Way and Manchester Street opened back up to traffic just after 8pm Sunday night.