OKC Family Says Officer Ran Stop Sign Before Injury Crash

<p>Oklahoma City Police are investigating an office-involved collision that happen Monday afternoon. The crash sent both the officer and three people to the hospital, including a 1-year-old girl, 6-year-old boy and 18-year-old driver.</p>

Tuesday, August 16th 2016, 5:26 pm

By: News 9


You can still see evidence of Monday afternoon's violent officer involved crash all over the curb at SW 13th and Rockwood Ave. Broken pieces of both the officer's police car and the family's car are scattered in the grass.

Police say they are investigating what happened, but the family says the officer ran the stop sign without any warning.

"He was going like 60MPH, he was going for a stolen vehicle and he just hit us," said Soleda Mares, who was injured in the accident.

Mares, 18, did not want to show her face during our interview, but did show us her injuries.

The family says her 6-year-old brother Aron Diaz has cuts and bruises to his head, and her 1-year0old sister Isela Diaz suffered a fractured skull.

"It just happened so fast.I was just trying to get out to check on the baby, " said Mares. "He didn't have sirens or lights or anything, and I looked both ways and I didn't see him. And I just kept driving. I knew there was a stop sign there and I just seen him coming really fast and he just hit us."

Pictures of the car show the extent of the damage to the car. The family is just thankful it wasn't worse,but claimed nobody came to help them when the collision occurred.

“Nobody came until the ambulance got there, that's when they came to check on us, " said Mares. 

Mares said she had just picked up her siblings from the babysitter's house and was leaving a nearby friend's house when the crash happened. There is no stop sign for those going east or west on NW 13th street at that intersection, but there is a stop sign for those going north and south on Rockwood Ave.

"I could have lost all 3 of my children," said Stormy Martinez, the mother of all 3 children injured in the crash. "So I think the police officer should have used precautions of stopping at the stop sign and using his sirens. "

Police say the officer involved was responding to a call about a citizen who claimed she had spotted her stolen truck nearby. Police say the officer was on his way to meet with the citizen when the crash happened and that there was no indication that the officer was speeding. But Police Captain Paco Balderrama of the Oklahoma City police department says they are doing a thorough investigation of the crash, and internal affairs is checking to see if there were any policy violations.

"If we are going to go above the posted speed limit going to a call where life and limb are threatened the. Yes, you have your lights and sirens on," said Captain Paco Balderrama. "That doesn't appear to be the case. But even so we still have to check every intersection before we go through. "

And police say they have a very specific protocol they have to follow during officer involved crash scenes like this one. That includes doing a complete medical check on the officer involved in the crash to see if there were any factors that could have lead him to run the stop sign.

"As far as what I can say to that family, we are very very sorry," said Captain Balderrama. "And we hope they get better soon, and that everybody's OK."

But the family says that's not enough.

 "Something needs to be done about it," said Martinez.

The family says they do plan to consult a lawyer to try to recoup the cost of their totalled car and the cost of all their accident relate medical bills.

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