RENTON, Wash. — A Renton police motorcycle officer is in the hospital with serious injuries after colliding with a vehicle while responding to a call.
Renton police said the 44-year-old officer’s injuries are not life-threatening, but officers do expect him to need surgery for broken bones.
The collision occurred at Lind Avenue Southwest and 19th in Renton.
The front of the motorcycle could be seen crumpled at the front of a Subaru Outback.
Commander Dave Leibman said the officer was responding to a call for an occupied home burglary and some kind of crash resulting from that burglary when he got into his own crash.
He was heading south on Lind Avenue Southwest and about to turn west when he and the SUV collided head-on.
Police said officers on bikes can often be difficult for drivers to see.
“It's inherently very dangerous -- they're hard to spot a lot of times,” Leibman said of motorcycle officers. “It's a dangerous job.”
It's unclear right now if the motorcycle officer had his lights on or what speed he was going to try to reach the burglary.
The driver was fine and there is no reason to believe drugs or alcohol were involved.