Anniston officer struck by car while working accident scene

Anniston Police Chief Shane Denham

An Anniston police officer was admitted to Regional Medical Center in Anniston Thursday evening after being struck by a car while directing traffic at the scene of a single-vehicle accident.

Anniston police chief Shane Denham said The 20-year department veteran whose name was not released, sustained a broken pelvis.

According to a news release from the department, the officer was trying to stop northbound traffic at the accident scene in the 2500 block of McClellan Boulevard when he  was struck by a Toyota Corolla between 6:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m.

The vehicle left the scene, but was located and the driver identified.

Denham said that while the situation continues to be investigated, it didn’t appear Thursday evening that substance or alcohol abuse was a factor.

It was, he said, “an accident in the strictest sense of the word.”

The chief noted that although the officer’s car lights were flashing, the accident scene was on a particularly dark stretch of the highway. He also said the officer was working alone at the time of the injury, a second officer at the scene having been sent on a more urgent call.