Texting driver crashes into police car

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - A Laurel police officer searching for a suspected drunken driver ended up being hit head-on by a car whose driver was texting.

Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Aaron Freivalds tells The Billings Gazette (https://bit.ly/1EHmBDj ) a 19-year-old Billings man was cited for reckless driving after the crash at 6 p.m. Tuesday. No one was injured. The officer’s Chevrolet Tahoe suffered minor damage, but the man’s car was disabled.

Officers were looking for the car after receiving reports of a suspected drunk driver. The officer located the vehicle only to see it jump a curb, swerve back onto the street, across the oncoming lane of traffic and onto another curb.

The patrol says the man steered the car off the curb and collided head-on with the officer’s SUV. Freivalds says the driver admitted he was texting.

Freivalds declined to identify the driver.

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Information from: The Billings Gazette, https://www.billingsgazette.com