A police officer operating an unmarked police car will not face any charges after causing a two car accident.
Officer D.A. Tyndall with the Smithfield Police Department was operating a 2018 Dodge Charger patrol car at 3:33am Monday in the parking lot of the American Pride Car Wash at 1203 N. Brightleaf Boulevard.
According to an accident report, Officer Tyndall didn’t see any other vehicles and began to pull into the southbound lane of N. Brightleaf Boulevard (US 301). As he proceeded into the roadway he heard the sound of brakes locking up and his patrol car was struck in the front left corner by a 2001 Ford passenger car driven by Daniel Keith Kuster of Kenly.
Kuster told investigating officers he was traveling southbound and the patrol car came out of the parking lot into his lane of travel. Police estimated Kuster was traveling at 30 mph in a 35 mph at the time of impact. His Ford left 51 feet of skid marks prior to impact. The patrol car was estimated to have been traveling at 2 mph.
No injuries were reported.
Damage to the Town of Smithfield patrol car was estimated at $2,000. Damage to Kuster’s vehicle was placed at $1,000.
Sgt. N.J. Memmelaar investigated the collision and did not file any charges.
