Waite Park Police Officer has Near Miss on Traffic Stop

(KNSI) — A Waite Park police officer was rattled but not hurt after a near miss with what they say was a distracted driver.

During the department’s virtual ride-along on October 14th, one of the officers was finishing a traffic stop on County Road 75 and walking back to his squad car when the car came flying past him. A post on the City of Waite Park’s Facebook page says, “a distracted driver, failed to move over a lane or slow down for the flashing lights on the squad car. Thankfully the officer noticed the vehicle approaching at a high rate of speed and moved in front of his squad to avoid possibly being hit.”

That driver was stopped and ticketed for violating the Ted Foss Move Over Law. The law requires drivers on a road with two or more lanes to keep one lane distance between them and a stopped emergency vehicle with flashing lights activated. That includes a police car, an ambulance, a fire truck, a tow truck, and maintenance or construction vehicles. Fines can exceed $100.

The law is named after fallen Minnesota State Trooper Corporal Ted Foss, who was hit and killed by the driver of a semi on August 31st, 2000, while conducting a traffic stop on Interstate 90. The truck driver was subsequently charged with eight misdemeanor counts, including reckless and inattentive driving.

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