Two I-380 Crashes In Cedar Rapids Include “Significant Injuries” & Injured Officer
[UPDATED 3/10 2:15 PM]
A preliminary investigation by the Cedar Rapids Police Department (CRPD) shows a motorcycle struck another northbound vehicle, a Toyota Avalon, at around 9 p.m. Tuesday night. Both people aboard the motorcycle were thrown from the bike, resulting in serious injuries. They were a 26-year-old man and 22-year-old woman, who are both at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Their names have not been released. Two people inside the Avalon were not injured.
At approximately 11:10 p.m. Tuesday evening a Cedar Rapids police officer was injured while directing traffic away from the previous accident on I-380. The CRPD says the squad car had both emergency and directional lights illuminated when it was struck from behind by a Chevy HHR. The driver of the HHR, 42-year-old Joseph D. Weber of Cedar Rapids, has been charged with Operating While Intoxicated, Failure to Maintain Control, and Failure to Change Lane Upon Approach to Emergency Stationary Vehicle. He was taken to the Linn County Jail.
The Cedar Rapids police officer was transported by ambulance to a Cedar Rapids and was treated and released.
[ORIGINAL STORY 3/10 9 AM] The last several nights on Interstate 380 in Cedar Rapids have been bad ones as far as accidents are concerned. One person was killed over the weekend, and a pair of crashes Tuesday night left two people injured and a Cedar Rapids Police Department patrol car damaged.
According to a media release from the Cedar Rapids Police Department, officers responded to a two-vehicle accident on I-380 northbound at Wilson Ave. SW at approximately 9 p.m. Tuesday evening. Officers were joined at the scene by the Cedar Rapids Fire Department and Area Ambulance to treat two people who were riding a motorcycle that was involved in an accident with a car. KCRG reports the motorcycle rear-ended the car.
One of the people aboard the motorcycle was taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. The release from Cedar Rapids police says the unnamed individuals on the motorcycle "both suffered significant injuries." The crash closed that portion of I-380 for several hours as police investigated the accident.
Just over two hours later, as officers with the Cedar Rapids Police Department (CRPD) continued to divert traffic off the interstate, a patrol car was hit by another vehicle. The driver of that vehicle was arrested and charged with drunk driving. According to KCRG, the name of that driver hasn't been released.
This past weekend, a two-vehicle crash on I-380 killed one person and injured four others. The CRPD says a vehicle traveling south in the northbound lanes north of the 7th St. NE exit caused that accident. 23-year-old David Nguyen of Cedar Rapids, a passenger in the vehicle that was struck, was killed in the accident. 34-year-old Tyler Lee of Rockton, Illinois was driving the vehicle that was traveling the wrong direction in the northbound lanes. He was injured, as were three people who were in the same vehicle as Nguyen. They were 20-year-old Rylee Wallingford, 23-year-old Benjamin Brecht, and 22-year-old Skyler McDowell, all of Cedar Rapids.