Cop on DUI patrol hit by drunken driving suspect By Kristen Bradley/ Daily News Staff
Thursday, July 6, 2006
MARLBOROUGH -- Police say an officer on the lookout Saturday night for drunken drivers didn't have far to travel. One drove into the side of his police cruiser.
As part of the state's "You Drink, You Drive, You Lose" campaign, Detective Derek Johnson was in his cruiser on Lakeside Avenue around 9 p.m. writing up a ticket for a teen, with a carload of pals, who ran a stop sign.
"I was about to get out and I, of course, look first, and all of a sudden I got sideswiped," Johnson said. A pickup truck, he said, crushed the cruiser's door and knocked off the side-view mirror.
The truck, driven by a man police later identified as Walter Gilligan, didn't stop there. It smashed into the rear bumper and driver's door of the car Johnson had stopped and then drove off.
Another officer caught up with the pickup and arrested the driver.
"After the accident, the first thing I thought of was the people in the car in front of me, the one I had pulled over," Johnson said. "Then I thought, wow, I could have been killed or seriously hurt. It's ironic that I'm out there to get traffic violators and drunk drivers and what happens -- I make a motor vehicle stop and get hit by a drunk driver."
Gilligan was charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, second offense, leaving the scene of an accident after property damage and driving outside of marked lanes.
He was was arraigned Monday in Marlborough District Court and released without bail but was stripped of his driving privileges. He was also ordered by the court to park his vehicle at his sister's home and provide a letter to the court by tomorrow proving that his car is stored away. He is due back in court Aug. 8.
No one was hurt in the episode, but the cruiser and car were heavily damaged.
"You hear about it and you see it on (television) all the time but you never think it will happen to you," Johnson said.
Johnson can laugh about the accident now, but knows just how lucky he was.
As for the teen he had pulled over, he was spared the ticket and issued a written warning. Johnson said he felt he had been through enough.
You drink, you drive, you slam into a cop you get arrested.
Such was the case for 41-year-old Walter Gilligan of Marlboro who allegedly sideswiped a police cruiser.
The cop he hit said yesterday he’s lucky nobody was killed. The officer had just pulled over a carload of kids when he was hit.
“It’s ironic that I’m out there to get traffic violators and drunk drivers and what happens, I make a motor vehicle stop and get hit by a drunk driver,” said Marlboro Detective Derek Johnson.
Another officer caught up to Gilligan Saturday and arrested him on drunken driving charges.
Gilligan was stripped of his driving privileges.
As for the teens the officer had pulled over, they were spared the ticket and issued a written warning instead. Johnson said he felt they had been through enough.
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