Trooper investigating accident becomes an accident victim

Heather Rawlyk

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2003 | 11:25 a.m.

A Nevada Highway Patrol trooper was struck by a car while investigating a crash on U.S. 95 near Flamingo Road Wednesday night.

Trooper Song Lee was standing behind his motorcycle on the left shoulder of the southbound lanes about 6 p.m. when Jacqueline Teltier of Henderson skidded her gray Volkswagon Fox into the paved shoulder, striking the trooper and pinning him between her vehicle and the motorcycle, Highway Patrol officials said.

Lee was taken to University Medical Center for moderate injuries and was treated and released, Trooper Chris Palma said.

NHP spokeswoman Angie Wolff said Lee was talking and alert after the accident and was mostly concerned about the condition of his new motorcycle.

"We just got these new Harleys in the last four to eight weeks," Wolff said. "He was asking about it. I think it's fixable so he should be happy."

Although the exact cause is under investigation, Wolff said the preliminary investigation indicates Teltier was following the car in front of her too closely and swerved when there was a quick stop in traffic, due to the prior fender bender.

"It is called 'speed too fast for condition,' " Wolff said. "They speed too fast through a scene and then they swerve to avoid a collision in front of them. They usually end up smacking into a center wall, but this time she smacked into a trooper."

Wolff said this kind of incident is fairly common, and it's a risk troopers take every day.

"More troopers are killed by vehicle accidents than bullets," she said. "We become oblivious to the dangers because investigating accidents is second nature to us. You don't think about it until something like this happens."

Lee apparently did everything right, Wolff said.

"Officers take precautions and pull everything as far to the side as possible, and (Lee) did all of that," she said. "It just took one individual who was not paying attention to cause this. You could see the skid marks, she was going too fast through the scene and got distracted."

Wolff said misdemeanor charges would likely be filed against the driver who hit Song.

Song wasn't the only one injured in the wreck. Nohelia Rivas, a driver involved in the fender bender that Song was investigating, was standing outside her vehicle and was struck in the knee by the trooper's motorcycle after it was hit, according to her brother, William Morales.

Morales said he planned to take his sister to UMC to have her knee examined after police finished their investigation.

"She is almost in shock right now. Her knee is hurting her pretty badly," Morales said Wednesday night.