Another State Patrol Car Hit on I-5, Renewing Calls to ‘Move Over’
Nov 1, 2026, 1:02 PM
The aftermath of a suspected DUI crash on I-5 near the Kent/Des Moines exit Sunday morning. (Photo: Washington State Patrol)
(Photo: Washington State Patrol)
For the third time in ten days, someone has crashed into a state trooper’s vehicle on I-5.
On Sunday morning, an officer was responding to a disabled, blocking vehicle on southbound I-5 near the Kent Des Moines Exit when a car slammed into his patrol car.
Luckily, the officer was outside the car and uninjured.
But the driver who slammed into the patrol car was badly injured.
That driver will likely face a DUI charge.
This follows a similar accident last weekend, when a motorhome slammed into a trooper’s cruiser on southbound I-5 near the ramp to SR 520.
In that collision, investigators say it was just a case of an inattentive driver, and not impairment.
The trooper who was inside the patrol car suffered a leg injury and a possible concussion.
Three days before that crash, another driver struck a trooper’s patrol car in Federal Way near S. 272nd St.
Fortunately, that trooper was outside of her vehicle and not hurt.
The state patrol says, in the Federal Way collision, the trooper’s emergency lights were flashing when the driver struck the vehicle.
The impact pushed the patrol car across the freeway and into a barrier.
That driver was also cited for DUI.
Washington state law requires drivers to move over one lane, if possible, when approaching emergency vehicles on the highway, or to slow down if it’s not possible to change lanes.
