Pickup slams into patrol car

San Diego Union Tribune – San Diego,CA,USA
ENCINITAS – A sheriff’s deputy conducting a field-sobriety
test on a driver early Friday morning was narrowly missed by a pickup truck
that slammed into his …

ENCINITAS – A sheriff’s deputy conducting a field-sobriety test on a driver early Friday morning was narrowly missed by a pickup truck that slammed into his patrol car, authorities said.

The deputy had pulled over the female driver of a Ford Mustang on South Vulcan Avenue near East F Street shortly after 1 a.m. and had begun to issue the sobriety test when he saw a white truck heading straight for them.

Deputy David Toner pulled the woman to safety just before the truck struck the rear of his patrol car, hitting it with such force that it struck the Mustang.

“They are lucky they didn’t get sandwiched,” said sheriff’s Lt. William Donahue.

The driver of the truck didn’t stop and the vehicle went on to hit a metal sign and go over the side of an embankment off Vulcan. The driver abandoned the truck and fled.

Deputies are still trying to locate the driver this morning, Donahue said.