Police officer distracted by his cell phone runs head-on into stopped cyclist

A cyclist was struck head-on while stopped at a stop sign by a police cruiser on a rural road in Missouri. The shocking incident was caught on video by the cyclist helmet-mounted camera. The police officer was looking at his phone as he was making a turn and ran directly into the cyclist who had put his foot down at a stop sign.

“I was struck head-on by a local police officer using his cell phone. He received a text from a fellow officer and decided to read that while making a turn onto my road. I was stopped…there is no excuse to use your phone at the wheel,” cyclist Joe Fasanello said to WGN9.

Fasanello was on a ride near Peculiar, Missouri on a sunny summers day. Upon arriving at a stop sign at a T intersection, he stopped and put his foot down as he waited to make a turn. Officer Charles Wallace was approaching from the cyclist’s right and made a left hand run onto the road but cut the shorter too short and struck Fasanello head-on.

In the video, the officer immediately admits to having been distracted by a text message he had just received from another officer. Fasanello was scraped and bruised but not seriously injured. The Missouri State Highway Patrol is investigating and the officer has been suspended with pay until the conclusion of the investigation.