VIDEO: Metro officer runs red light, hits driver

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - New video shows a Metro Police officer running a red light and slamming into another driver.

Stephen Roche said he was stopped at a red light behind a police officer when he heard a loud noise. “There is no screeching or metal crunching,” Roche said. “It is boom.”

Roche described a disturbing scene at a West Nashville intersection near his neighborhood last month. “I saw a policeman get out of the car, stagger out of the car,” Roche said. “He is bleeding from the head.”

Roche said he was behind a police car on his way to get gas around 10 a.m. Dashcam footage from that police car showed the car run a red light at Charlotte Pike and Brooke Hollow Road. Police said the driver was an officer who was still in training.

When they got a call, the officer ran the red light but forgot to turn the sirens on. “It was not on, but it didn’t look like he was taking off for a call,” Roche said. “For me, it felt like normal traffic.”

In the video, the training officer yells at the trainee to turn on his sirens. According to the crash report, a red SUV traveling in the other direction had the green light and hit the police car. “He went from being left to being almost turned 180 to the right,” Roche said.

The driver of the SUV and trainee were okay. The training officer, the passenger in the police car, was hurt. The field training officer has since been released from the hospital. Metro police said no one was charged or cited in this crash.

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