State Trooper involved in one car wreck
Alabama State Trooper Mitch Mitchell was involved in a one car accident in Russellville Thursday evening. | Nathan Strickland/FCT
An Alabama State Trooper was flown to Huntsville Hospital after his patrol unit dipped into a median and rolled into on coming traffic in Russellville Thursday..
Authorities said Mitch Mitchell, 47, of Phil Campbell was headed southbound on U.S. 43 about 3 p.m. Thursday when his patrol unit swerved off the road, into a median, flipped about two times, and came to rest in the northbound lane.
The accident happened in front of Calvary Baptist Church on the northern end of Russellville.
Mitchell was rushed by emergency personnel to a MedFlight helicopter and flown to Huntsville Hospital.
Eyewitness Shelby Roland said she was heading north to her home in Colbert Heights when she saw the accident.
“I saw him fish-tail and my first impression was that he was trying to turn around to go catch someone, but he didn’t have his lights on so I’m not real sure of the real reason he lost control,” Roland said.
“I’m not sure if he swerved to miss something or someone pulled out in front of him, I just saw the car when it was swerving.”
Roland said when she saw the trooper hit the median she knew it was going to be bad.
He went into the median pretty hard and the car just started to roll towards me in the lane I was driving,” she said. “It had to have flipped at least three times.”
Roland said the patrol unit was flipping so much that she actually stopped her vehicle and flung it into reverse because she thought the car was going to roll on top of her.
Roland said that once the car stopped rolling it was upside down and she immediately put her car in park and ran to the patrol unit.
“I thought he was dead. The car hit so hard and I thought there was no way he made it through it. He had to have had a guardian angel in the passenger seat with him to survive that crash,” Roland said.
Roland said a Wal-Mart truck driver also rushed to the patrol unit and yelled at the officer to see if he was all right.
“His head was bobbing back and forth. I saw his hand reach for what looked like his radio for what seemed to me an effort to call for help,” she said. “I stayed there until emergency workers got there and gave a statement as to what I saw. I never want to see anything like that ever happen again.”
Emergency workers said the officer was alert and talking when he was taken to the hospital.
Hospital personnel said Mitchell has since been released from the hospital with significant cuts and bruises.
