Tredyffrin Officer Recovering After Accident

Tredyffrin Police Corporal Michelle Power is out of the hospital and recovering at home after the patrol vehicle she was sitting in was rear ended on U.S. 202 Saturday.

Acting Tredyffrin Police Superintendent Lt. Anthony Giaimo tells Patch that Powers is feeling better and is recuperating at home after being treated and released Saturday from Paoli Memorial Hospital.

Giaimo praised the corporal for her presence of mind in the moments after her Ford Expedition police cruiser was rear-ended on northboun U.S. 202 near Chesterbrook. Her police SUV was fully marked, with its emergency lights on, and was parked in the shoulder of the roadway, along with other emergency responders including Berwyn Fire Company trucks.

"She was able to call dispatch," Giaimo tells Patch. The acting superintendent says he had just spoken with her a few minutes before the Hyundai Santa Fe with a driver and three passengers steered past construction vehicles, a flashing arrow sign and other rescue vehicles, slamming into the police SUV.

Power was investigating an accident at the time her patrol vehicle was rear-ended. Several people in a mini van were involved in the first accident and taken to area hospital. Four people in the Hyundai that crashed into the police vehicle were taken to the hospital. Ten people in all, including Corporal Power were taken to hospitals for treatment.

Giaimo says the accident is an important reminder and example of why it is important to slow down when approaching and passing accident scenes. He says it especially important when road conditions are slippery or dangerous as the conditions were on Saturday morning in the wake of an overnight snowstorm.

The superintendent says it's also important for drivers to observe Pennsylvania's "move over law" which requires drivers to move into a lane if available or to move as far as safely possible away from a stopped police vehicle at an accident or construction scene.