Trooper escapes injury when squad hit by drunk driver

Mandan - A North Dakota Highway Patrol Trooper, who was monitoring road closure gates on I-94 near Mandan, escaped injury after his squad was hit by a drunk driver. It happened around 1:15am Sunday.

The Patrol says the trooper was stationed at milepost 147 in his vehicle, with all the emergency lights activated. The Trooper saw the vehicle approaching at a fast rate of speed and was able to move his squad car over to the right just enough to avoid a complete head-on collision and was side swiped instead. The drunk driver then drove through the road closure gates. No one was hurt.

The Morton County Sheriff’s Department investigated the crash and arrested the driver for DUI. The incident is still under investigation by Morton County and the North Dakota Highway Patrol.