A woman in Arizona was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence on an Arizona interstate this week. Two police patrol vehicles, both the highly popular police model of the Ford Crown Victoria sedan, were parked behind her stationary vehicle on the shoulder of the highway. The law enforcement officials had placed the woman in the back of one of the vehicles after she was arrested. Then, as the police officers at the scene wrapped up additional details for the case, another unrelated vehicle hit the parked cars.
Investigating officers say that the driver of the vehicle causing the accident failed to maintain control of the vehicle and plowed into the back of one of the police officers' Crown Victoria vehicles. That Crown Victoria was pushed into the police car in front of it, which contained the female DUI suspect, which also hit the suspect's parked car ahead on the shoulder.
The Crown Victoria model has been faulted for a defective fuel system. In this case, as in others like it, the rear-ending of the police vehicles caused the fuel tanks to rupture and cause a fast, hot-burning fire which engulfed all of the vehicles very quickly. The police officers were not injured in the accident and they were able to pull the driver, who sustained injuries, from the vehicle. They were unable, however, to rescue the DUI suspect from the back of the patrol vehicle. She was killed by the fire. She was also likely unable to escape of her own accord because she was probably handcuffed and suspects are typically locked into the back of a police vehicle.
A number of police officers and others have been killed in these types of rear-impact accidents involving the Ford Crown Victoria, which is a highly-favored vehicle for police departments around the country. Arizona officials are continuing to investigate this accident and have not at this time released their findings to the public. The patrol vehicles were apparently equipped with fire suppressing devices.
The original report is available here.
