10/12/2022
A Dallas police officer died after crashing with a wrong-way driver late Tuesday, according to police.
The crash happened shortly before midnight on Spur 408 northbound at West Kiest Boulevard, authorities said. Officer Jacob Arellano, who was beginning his shift and on his way to work, was driving in the middle of three lanes when a sedan going the wrong way struck his SUV. Arellano’s car veered into the right lane, where he was struck again by a tractor-trailer and rolled multiple times.
Arellano, 25, was taken to a hospital in critical condition, but died Wednesday morning. The wrong-way driver was hospitalized in serious condition. The department’s traffic unit is investigating the crash. Police have not announced charges against the other driver, but Dallas Police Chief Eddie García said in a memo to police officers the wrong-way driver might have been intoxicated.
“Please keep Jacob, his son, his girlfriend, and his family in your prayers,” García tweeted while announcing Arellano’s death. “Rest easy brother.”
Texas leads the nation in wrong-way vehicle crash deaths, according to AAA. Between 2015 and 2018, AAA research shows, there were 2,008 deaths from wrong-way driving crashes on divided highways in the U.S., and 309 of them were in Texas, the highest of any state.
Arellano had worked for the department since June 2019, assigned to the Northwest patrol division.
The sergeant was calling the officers’ names at the beginning of the shift, like the they do each time, “only Officer Arellano didn’t answer,” Garcia said during a press conference at Methodist Dallas Medical Center Wednesday afternoon.
The officers started making calls to figure out where he was and discovered he was seriously injured.
Garcia, surrounded by about a dozen uniformed officers, choked back tears multiple times during the conference, sometimes taking long pauses.
The sergeant was calling the officers’ names at the beginning of the shift, like the they do each time, “only Officer Arellano didn’t answer,” Garcia said during a press conference at Methodist Dallas Medical Center Wednesday afternoon.
The officers started making calls to figure out where he was and discovered he was seriously injured.
Garcia, surrounded by about a dozen uniformed officers, choked back tears multiple times during the conference, sometimes taking long pauses.
”We are all living our worst nightmare,” he said. “Today we lost one of our own.”
Arellano is survived by his parents, his girlfriend and their infant child, and a brother who is also a Dallas police officer, García said.
Funeral arrangements for Arellano are pending.
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