A 25-year-old man is facing DUI charges after allegedly hitting an Alpharetta police car on Ga. 400 Friday night.
Joseph Gipe is accused of crashing into Officer Dustin Bak, who was heading home after a shift with the DUI task force, Alpharetta police spokesman Jason Muenzer told Channel 2 Action News.
Muenzer said Bak was going about the speed limit on Ga. 400 when Gipe drove up rather quickly and smashed into the back end of the patrolman's vehicle.
“Officer Bak has been with our department about 10 years,” Muenzer said. “He’s a great officer. In fact, he’s on one of our DUI units.”
Bak is expected to make a full recovery.
Gipe has since been released from jail on bond, but police are frustrated with how common DUI crimes occur —and injure public safety officials.
“This is becoming all too common,” Muenzer said. “It needs to stop.”
Ceijai Broughton was charged with DUI, following too closely and violating the move-over law in September when she hit and injured an Alpharetta police officer providing traffic control for a construction crew, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. That crash happened in the Mansell Road area of Ga. 400.
On the night Bak was injured, Alpharetta police made seven DUI arrests.
“The message here is don't drink and drive,” Muenzer said. “If you are going to go out and drink, you need to be responsible ... take an Uber.”
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