A firefighter was hit by a car and hurt on the Capital Beltway early Friday after police say a suspected DUI driver ignored lane closures.
The Montgomery County firefighter, a 54-year-old, was hit at about 3 a.m. on the Inner Loop of Interstate 495 near University Boulevard. He was rushed to a trauma center.
Members of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service and Maryland State Police troopers responded at about 2:40 a.m. to a previous crash involving a tractor-trailer and a Lexus sedan, police said. Several lanes of the highway were “blocked off by traffic cones, flares and two marked patrol vehicles with emergency lights activated,” a statement from police said.
About 20 minutes later, the driver of a BMW sedan sped through the lane closures, smashed into two patrol vehicles with no one inside and hit the firefighter, police said the initial investigation showed.
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Photos shared by state police show heavy damage to a trooper’s SUV. All the airbags appeared to have deployed.
Driver Alberto Zurita, 45, was arrested for suspected DUI. The investigation is ongoing.
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No information was immediately released on the nature or severity of the firefighter's injuries.
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All drivers must move over to protect first responders. Maryland’s Move Over Law requires drivers to “make a lane change or slow down when approaching any stopped, standing, or parked vehicle displaying warning signals.” Go here for more information.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
