VA Police Officer Narrowly Escapes As Teen Driver Slams Into Traffic Stop: Video

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — A Fairfax County police officer suffered only minor injuries on Monday after almost getting killed by a teenage driver who lost control of his BMW and nearly ran over the police officer along the Fairfax County Parkway.

The 17-year-old driver of a black 2018 BMW M3 was traveling at over 120 mph while driving on Fairfax County Parkway around 11:40 a.m. on Monday when they lost control of the car, police said. The speed limit on that section of the parkway is 50 mph.

The BMW spun around, crossed the median, striking a vehicle that the patrol officer had stopped for speeding and hitting the police officer’s vehicle, according to police.

Video of the crash was captured by the camera in the police officer's car.

"It's just miraculous" that the officer avoided serious injury and death, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said at a news briefing on Tuesday.

Only a second or two before the teen’s BMW rammed into the car that was pulled over, the police officer quickly moved to the back of the car, avoiding getting crushed by a few feet.

The adult driver of the car that was stopped by police was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and has since been released from the hospital, police said.

The 17-year-old driver of the out-of-control BMW and the two teenage passengers in the car suffered minor injuries. The teen was charged with reckless driving, police said.

For the traffic stop, the police officer, who has 13 years of experience and works out of the Sully District Station, made the decision to approach the car on the passenger side due to how close the car was to the busy Fairfax County Parkway.

"That decision was very consequential," Fairfax County Deputy Police Chief Bob Blakley said at Tuesday's news briefing.

"His back would have been to traffic, and he probably wouldn't have had advance notice of that out-of-control vehicle" if he had approached the car on the driver's side, the deputy police chief said.

The teen driver "nearly ended this police officer's life as well as the driver of the vehicle that was parked on the side of the road," Blakley added.

Fairfax County police are urging parents to use the video as an opportunity to have a conversation with their teen drivers about how their driving behavior can affect the lives of others. Erratic and dangerous driving by teen drivers has been on the rise in Fairfax County, according to police.

The department has seen a 62-percent increase in tickets issued to teen drivers for speeding offenses in 2023 over the same period in 2022.

The area of the Fairfax County Parkway where the crash occurred — between Braddock Road and Popes Head Road — has seen an increased number of crashes, Blakley said.

The video of the crash will likely be used in the police department's criminal justice academy for many reasons, including the advantage of a passenger side approach to a stopped vehicle in some cases, Davis said.

But if the officer had frozen when he saw the speeding car approaching — a common human response — he likely would not have survived the crash, Davis noted.

"He made a decision to move and he moved. And he moved in the right place at the right time for that split second moment," the chief said. "And even his recovery from that horrific collision was to immediately do a two-step over the guardrail and get right on his radio and calmly describe what had happened. Not a lot of people can pull that off."

Davis added that parents should be careful about what cars they purchase for their teenagers to drive. "The car involved in that collision yesterday was a whole lot of car for an inexperienced driver," he said.

When the BMW approached the curve in Fairfax County Parkway, "it was a rocket, and then it became a missile" when the teen lost control, Davis explained.