Two Vernon police cruisers were struck in two separate incidents on Vernon Avenue in a span of an hour and a half on Thursday night, according to police.
Officer Thomas Phelps’ cruiser was hit head-on while he was on patrol and Officer James Grzegorek was struck around an hour and a half later after leaving the hospital where he’d visited Phelps.
Phelps was on patrol at 8:44 p.m. when he saw a 2006 Nissan Sentra with an erratic driver cross the center lane, police said. The driver, Khong Saeng-Aly, 32, of Manchester, slammed into a 2007 GMC Yukon near 297 Vernon Road, then struck Officer Phelps’ cruiser, head-on, police said.
Officer Phelps’ hand was injured during the incident and the cruiser sustained moderate damage.
An ambulance transported Saeng-Aly to Rockville General Hospital to be treated for injuries. The other driver was not injured.
Vernon Avenue was shut down for several hours and police are investigating. No charges have been filed, but police said they are likely to come.
At 10:10 p.m., Officer Grzegorek was coming back from the hospital and noticed a 2005 Nissan pathfinder driving erratically in front of him in the area of 64 Vernon Avenue, so he put the emergency lights on.
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The driver, a 22-year-old Vernon woman, stopped in the middle of the road, then suddenly started backing up and smashed into the cruiser, police said.
The woman has a learner’s permit, is learning to drive, backed up after panicking about being stopped, according to police.
The cruiser was damaged, but no one was hurt and police cited Delaney for failure to drive right and unsafe backing.
The two police cruisers are out of service as they are being repaired.
