A California Highway Patrol officer was trying to get a man to stop walking along a center divider on the 10 Freeway in Los Angeles when a vehicle struck her Monday morning, authorities said.
The 30-year-old officer suffered major injuries after responding to the call about a man on the freeway at around 7:15 a.m., according to CHP. The man was reported to be walking on the westbound 10 Freeway just east of the Crenshaw Boulevard exit, which borders South and Central L.A.
When the officer arrived, she saw the 25-year-old man walking along the freeway’s center divider west of the Arlington Avenue exit, CHP officials said in a news release. She got out of her vehicle and told the man to stop.
But he ignored her commands and jumped over the center divider wall, running through the eastbound lanes of the 10 Freeway as he fled from her, officials said.
She ran after the man to get him safely off the freeway, officials said. But before she could get to him, a vehicle traveling in the #1 lane of the eastbound freeway hit her, according to CHP.
Motorists who had witnessed the incident detained the man, and he was later arrested, officials said. His identity has not been released.
Meanwhile, the officer was taken to Cedar’s Sinai Medical Center to treat major injuries. CHP has not released further details about her condition or the nature of her injuries.
At 7:25 a.m., authorities issued a Sig-Alert warning of disrupted traffic for both directions of the 10 Freeway in the area. It remained in place in the hours following as authorities investigated.