By Brian Livingston / staff writer
Two Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department deputies, attached to the Interstate Criminal Enforcement team (ICE), were unhurt Wednesday afternoon when the Chevrolet Tahoe they and a K-9 officer were in was struck by one of four vehicles involved in a spinout on Interstate 59.
LCSD Chief Deputy Ward Calhoun said the officers, who were sitting in the vehicle monitoring traffic, looked up to see one of the four vehicle spinning through the median toward them.
"The officers were parked in one of those emergency crossover lanes and there was nothing they could do," said Calhoun. "The car with two women in it impacted on the driver's side door."
The four vehicles involved in the spinout were heading south at about the 139 MM near the Clarke County line at 3 p.m. when the accident occurred.
The officers were able to get out of the SUV and lend assistance to the injured women along with volunteers with South VFR. The injured women were later transported to a Meridian hospital by Metro Ambulance. Calhoun said none of the injuries appeared to be life threatening. No one else in the other three vehicles were hurt and there was only minor damage to those vehicles.
This brings to three LCSD vehicles that have been put out of action in recent days. One patrol unit was heavily damaged when a deer jumped in front of it and another suffered moderate damage from an electrical fire in the engine compartment.
"I guess it's true when they say bad things happen in threes," Calhoun said. "In all of these cases there was really nobody to blame and nothing we could do about it. It just happens."
