Four Indianapolis firefighters were hurt late Sunday following a head-on collision with a driver who is accused of driving under the influence.
The accident happened at about 11:30 p.m. as firefighters were pulling out of the station on the city's east side on their way to a call, the department said in a statement online. That's when a silver car crossed the roadway's center line and hit the apparatus, which had its red lights and sirens on.
The force of the crash sent the department's vehicle across lanes of traffic, and it hit a nearby gas station sign, a light pole, several concrete barriers and a vacuum/air pump, according to the department. Debris was spread the length of two football fields, and a mobile data terminal on the officer's side of the apparatus was sent flying through the front windshield.
According to the department, it was fortunate that the station's sign stopped the apparatus from flipping over or from slamming into the fuel pumps and occupied building. The firefighters were taken to Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital with minor injuries.
"The firefighters are shaken but extremely grateful to be relatively unscathed," the department said in a statement released online.
The car's driver—identified by WXIN-TV as David Bender—was taken to Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Hospital after the crash but didn't show any signs of injury. He was later arrested and charged with operating while intoxicated, according to the TV station.
