Why Does This Keep Happening
Drunk driver arrested after running into marked Austin police car
An Austin man has been charged with driving while intoxicated after plowing into a marked Austin Police car. In the early morning hours of October 9, 49-year-old Clayton Lee Klotz was driving eastbound on Braker Lane when he hit a parked APD patrol car that was not only marked, but had its lights and siren on.
Though Klotz refused treatment, the officer involved was taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge and treated for minor injuries.
This is the just latest case of a drunk driver plowing into police cars or past barricades. In March, 21-year-old Rashad Owens was arrested and charged with DWI and 20 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after driving his vehicle past an Austin police officer, through a barricade and onto a crowded street filled with SXSW revelers. Four people were killed and dozens more injured. Owens was reportedly evading a DUI stop at the time.
On April 28, Wade Atwood was arrested for drunk driving after hitting and killing pedestrian Kelly Noel on the northbound I-35 Frontage Road. While police were investigating the scene, another driver drove through the police barricade, almost striking multiple officers. That driver was also arrested for DWI.