PALMDALE (CNS) - A 27-year-old California Highway Patrol officer was hospitalized in critical condition this morning with injuries he sustained in a crash with a pickup truck towing a utility trailer in the unincorporated northwest Palmdale area.
The crash occurred about 7:05 p.m. Monday on eastbound Avenue N, east of 34th Street West, according to CHP Officer Monique Mischeaux.
The officer was on-duty driving a CHP motorcycle eastbound on Avenue N when the 33-year-old driver of the Ford F-150 pickup, identified as Zachary J. Thomas of Quartz Hill, drove past his destination and pulled onto the south dirt shoulder. Thomas then pulled away from the shoulder to make a U-turn and crossed directly into the path of the officer, Mischeaux said.
The bike crashed into the front end of the truck and the officer was thrown from the motorcycle. Both the officer and the motorcycle came to rest on the north side of the road, Mischeaux said.
The officer, whose name was not disclosed, was taken to a hospital with major injuries, Mischeaux said.
Neither alcohol nor drugs were suspected as factors in the crash, and no arrest was reported.
Photo: Getty Images