A San Diego police motorcycle officer was struck by a pickup truck Friday while he was conducting a traffic stop on the shoulder of Interstate 905.
The impact sent the officer an estimated 75 feet down an embankment.
The SDPD motorcycle officer was standing on the right shoulder speaking to the driver of a maroon Xterra just before 10 a.m.
He was standing on the passenger side of the vehicle when a white F-150 truck struck the rear driver's side of the Xterra.
"He took a strike from the car he was standing next to and it knocked him down the embankment on the other side of the guardrail," California Highway Patrol Officer Jake Sanchez said.
Sanchez estimated the officer fell or rolled 75 feet down the embankment.
“That’s a large embankment so he went down quite aways,” he said.
He was able to make a radio call for help and provide his location.
First responders pulled the injured officer from the canyon, one witness told NBC 7.
Witness Makeylah Hernandez said the officer was for someone to call his family and let them know he was fine.
"He just kept on screaming out for us to call his wife and to call his family just to let his family know that he was OK
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Sanchez said the Xterra driver also went down to help the officer. He was not ticketed, Sanchez said.
San Diego Fire-Rescue crews arrived and helped to transport the injured officer to the UC San Diego Medical Center.
Sanchez said the officer suffered minor injuries, including an injury that caused bleeding on his face.
In a hospital interview, the officer told investigators he heard and felt the impact but never saw the car coming, according to the CHP.
The Ford F-150 involved in the collision stopped several yards away from the scene of the crash and the driver was questioned by the police.
He was given a test to make sure he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, Sanchez said.
I-905 was reopened to traffic as of 10:15 a.m.
The location is east of Picador Boulevard, near the southbound Interstate 805 transition onto the westbound I-905.
The injured officer has been with the San Diego Police Department for 11 years. He has served three years as a motorcycle officer. His name has not been released.
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