Granite City police officer recovering after 17-year-old crashes into squad car

A Granite City Police Department officer is recovering after being involved in a serious accident in his patrol car Monday night.

Officer Ron Fisher was headed back to police headquarters at 5:40 p.m., ready to end his shift at 6 p.m., according to Chief Rich Miller.

“He was southbound at 25th and Madison in a police interceptor Taurus when a Ford Expedition was northbound in the inside lane,” Miller said. “A car made a left turn in front of him and then a Ford Expedition behind the first car also suddenly made a left-handed turn.”

The Expedition, a full-sized sport utility vehicle, was being driven by a 17-year-old female whose name was not released by police.

The police cruiser and the Taurus hit head-on at a combined speed of about 70 mph.

“She made the turn just out of the blue without him having the time to react,” Miller said. “It pretty much hit headlights to headlights. Our car is pretty mangled. It’s pretty impressive that the safety equipment worked so well as bad as the front-end damage was.”

Fisher suffered a broken wrist and abrasions to his head, Miller said. He’ll need surgery this week on the wrist.

“Hopefully the surgery will go good, and he’ll be alright,” Miller said.

Fisher, 40, is a 15-year-veteran of the Granite City Police Department.

The accident was handled by the Illinois State Police. Miller said the 17-year-old female was cited for improper lane usage.

“It was obvious that she was at fault,” Miller said. “But she wasn’t doing anything crazy. It was just a mistake of a young driver.”

This was the first crash involving a Granite City police car in about five years.

“We had two squad cars that collided while responding to a scene,” Miller said. “They were coming from different directions” and crashed in an intersection.

Fisher was taken to St. Louis University Hospital for treatment. The teen, who suffered only bruises and abrasions, was taken to Gateway Medical Center.

This story was originally published December 8, 2015 at 10:35 AM with the headline "Granite City police officer recovering after 17-year-old crashes into squad car."