ATASCOSA COUNTY, Texas – Long before a camera captured a close call for Atascosa County Sheriff’s deputies and a driver who they had stopped Wednesday night, some people who live in the area had already labeled it a danger zone.
>> Truck driver smashes into Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office vehicle during traffic stop
The crash, which was caught on the deputies’ dashboard camera, happened along State Highway 16 near Stacey Road.
The video shows the deputies standing at the back end of the driver’s car, who they had pulled over for a traffic violation.
Moments into their interaction with that driver, a pickup truck slammed into the patrol vehicle.
Both deputies and the driver who they had stopped dove for cover toward the grassy edge of the road.
In a post on its social media pages, the sheriff’s office said no one was injured. The pickup truck driver who caused the crash was stopped and cited, deputies said.
According to people who live in the area, that stretch of Highway 16 has been the site of ongoing traffic-related trouble.
“It’s a dangerous highway. I mean, it’s a major highway,” said John Willburn.
While the video of the deputies’ scare has been shared across social media, Willburn saw it for the first time Friday morning.
“I thought they got hit,” he said, upon seeing the truck slam into the patrol unit. “They’re lucky they didn’t.”
The spot where that crash happened is about two miles south of the scene of another recent crash.
Back on Dec. 4, a school bus crashed along the highway near Encino Drive, sending a bus aide to the hospital with injuries.
“It’s sad that all these accidents have been happening here on Highway 16, and it’s been numerous. People have passed away,” said Rolando Guardiola, who has lived along the edge of that road for the past two decades.
Guardiola said traffic has multiplied over the years, and just getting out of his driveway lately has become a challenge.
“If you’re going northbound or if you’re going southbound, these tankers come out of nowhere,” he said.
Large trucks related to the fracking industry, coupled with growth in the area, Guardiola said, have made the road busier than ever.
Adding to the troubles, he said, is the fact that the area tends to be especially dark at night.
“We don’t have any lights out here,” Guardiola said. “I mean, it’s terrible there, right there where it happened.”
Although the crash involving the deputies’ vehicle is still under investigation, Guardiola suspects the lack of lighting played a role.
The sheriff’s office, meanwhile, is asking drivers to do what they can to avoid causing situations like this.
In their social media post, deputies urged drivers to use caution when they see emergency vehicles on the road, and to slow down and move over.