5 people, including 2 Reynoldsburg police officers, hurt in I-70 crash

Five people, including two Reynoldsburg police officers, were hospitalized Friday afternoon after a vehicle crashed into them as they pulled into a highway u-turn lane.

The crash happened at 12:37 p.m. on Columbus' Southeast Side, closed eastbound traffic on Interstate 70, and restricted westbound traffic for hours, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation.

Reynoldsburg police released a short statement about three hours after the crash, saying the unidentified officers suffered minor injuries and were released from the hospital.

They gave no update on the conditions of the three passengers in the third vehicle that crashed into the cruisers.

The crash happened while the officers drove their cruisers westbound on I-70 near James Road. The unnamed driver of the third vehicle struck the cruisers from behind, according to the police statement.

Video footage of the collision obtained by The Dispatch through a public records request with the Ohio Department of Transportation shows two police officers cut their cruisers through the u-turn lane of the highway. Neither cruiser has its emergency lights activated.

The black car appears to strike the driver's side of the first cruiser, which bumped into the rear of the second cruiser. It's unclear from the video if the black car made contact with the second cruiser. The car rolled into oncoming traffic and the officer in the second cruiser activated his emergency lights.

Reynoldsburg police did not say what caused the crash or whether law enforcement issued citations. The Columbus police crash unit is handling the investigation.

The crash resulted in a traffic deadlock of eastbound traffic from South James Road to U.S. Route 33, and westbound traffic was restricted at the South James Road intersection.

Traffic on eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 backed up from East Livingston Avenue to the scene of the incident. An ODOT camera at the Interstate 70/U.S. Route 33 interchange showed significant police presence.

All lanes reopened by 2:45 p.m.

bagallion@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 5 people, including 2 Reynoldsburg police officers, hurt in I-70 crash