Police Dashcam Video Shows Officer And Woman Struck By Car

Wyoming Police have released dash camera video of a terrifying crash where an officer and a woman were struck by a vehicle. The crash happened Feb. 1 when Officer Ryan Silvis was helping a driver on a snowy stretch of northbound US-131 north of 44th Street. “I was dispatched to a single car accident on the highway,” Silvis told FOX 17 in a Feb. 15 interview, referring to a truck that had skidded off the road on the left side of the highway. “That section of highway is three lanes, so I parked my cruiser in the middle lane.” Officer Silvis immediately threw on his flasher lights, alerting approaching traffic they needed to get over to the right lane. “When I was talking to her, at the last second out of the corner of my eye, I saw headlights,” said Silvis. “And my brain kind of went, ‘those aren’t supposed to be there.’” The car slammed into the parked truck and into Silvis and the other motorist. Jeffrey Lee Huizenga, 26, is charged with failing to use caution when passing an emergency vehicle in connection with the crash.

“All I could do was kind of turn my body,” Silvis said. “I wasn’t even able to brace for the impact.” Officer Silvis was thrown after impact. The 23-year-old woman was pinned between the guardrail and her truck. Suffering from a fractured hip, Silvis was amazingly able to get up and make it to his cruiser to call for back up. “After that I was kind of on auto pilot,” he said. “I reached for my radio to call for more cars and call for an ambulance, and my radio was no longer there...When I stood up, I kind of looked down at my arms and legs and went ‘okay, they’re still where they’re supposed to be…” Police say Silvis and the woman are still recovering from their injuries.