Atlanta police officer, second motorist injured in wreck

By Mike Morris

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An Atlanta police officer and a second motorist were injured early Thursday in a two-car wreck near the Georgia Dome.

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Mike Morris, mmorris@ajc.com An Atlanta police car was involved in a two-vehicle wreck near the intersection on Northside Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive early Thursday.

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Mike Morris, mmorris@ajc.com Debris litters the spot where a compact car was t-boned by an Atlanta police cruiser early Thursday.

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The crash happened about 2:30 a.m. near the intersection of Northside Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in northwest Atlanta.

Investigators were still trying to determine what happened, but Atlanta police Lt. Scott Gourley said it appeared that the police cruiser "t-boned" a white compact car. Both cars were severely damaged by the impact.

The officer was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, the second motorist to Atlanta Medical Center. They were both in stable condition several hours after the crash, Gourley said. He said the officer was "banged up pretty bad."

Gourley said the Zone 1 officer, who is in his late 20s, has been on the force for about two years. He was not on a call when the crash occurred.

He said the officer radioed his location immediately after the crash, then dispatchers lost contact with him. The officer was "semi-alert" when he was taken to Grady, Gourley said.

Northside and Martin Luther King Jr. drives were shut down for about three hours following the crash.