CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer was injured early Saturday when a driver struck an occupied CMPD vehicle on Interstate 85 in northeast Charlotte, and the driver was later charged with driving while impaired, police said.
Police identified the driver as 22-year-old Nicholas Stedeford-Aaron. Both accounts said the crash happened on I-85 between W.T. Harris Boulevard and University City Boulevard while officers were helping with traffic control after an earlier wreck.
One account put the strike on the occupied CMPD car around 1:44 a.m.; another said it happened around 1:45 a.m. after officers had responded shortly after 12:30 a.m. Medics took the officer and Stedeford-Aaron to hospitals. The officer was treated for serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was discharged the same day.
Officers evaluated Stedeford-Aaron and determined he was impaired. After he was released from the hospital, he was arrested and taken into Mecklenburg County Sheriff Office custody. He is charged with driving while impaired, reckless driving to endanger, and failure to move over for an emergency vehicle resulting in injury.
North Carolina State Highway Patrol was investigating the original accident that first drew officers to the interstate, CMPD said. Northbound I-85 reopened shortly after the officer-involved crash. Medics initially said five people were hospitalized overall, but police had not confirmed that wider tally.
CMPD Chief Estella D. Patterson department and Sheriff Garry McFadden office handle impaired-driving crashes that injure officers across Mecklenburg County. Mayor Rob Harrington administration has pressed for safer interstate responses after repeated weekend wrecks near University City.
The charges remain allegations, and Stedeford-Aaron is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. Investigators said work on both the original wreck and the secondary crash that injured the officer remained active Saturday.
