A Sarnia police officer was rushed to hospital early Friday morning after being struck by a car.
Officers were leaving a home on Old Lakeshore Road near Morningside Drive at around 1:30 a.m. after responding to another unrelated call.
Police said while the officers were walking back to their cruisers, which were parked on the shoulder of the road with headlights on, they spotted a vehicle approaching from the west.
It's alleged the car suddenly veered off the road, around the parked cruisers and onto the grass ditch area where the officers were standing.
While one officer was able to move out of the vehicle's path, the other was struck and thrown a significant distance away.
Sarnia Police Chief Derek Davis said Lambton EMS transported the officer to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, including cuts to his head and scrapes and bruising to his hip and leg. He's expected to make a full recovery.
"Certainly was concerning at the time," said Davis. "There was significant damage to the front of the vehicle, that's from striking the officer. He was thrown backwards quite a ways, like across almost the entire front lawn, his equipment was scattered in the area from the impact. So, it appears right now that he's extremely fortunate and we're extremely happy that there doesn't appear to be any life-threatening or serious injuries. He is however in a great deal of pain, understandably so."
Davis said investigators believe the driver had suddenly swerved to the right to avoid striking the parked cars, without knowledge of the officers standing on the grass shoulder directly in his path.
"We have no information this was anything targeted or intentional," said Davis. "I think I would chalk this up to a horrific set of circumstances and an unfortunate driver error."
A 22-year-old Sarnia man was arrested at the scene and charged with dangerous operation, novice driver with a blood alcohol content (BAC) above zero and careless driving. He was later released on an undertaking with a promise to appear in court.
The investigation by the SPS Traffic Services Unit is ongoing.