Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Struck, Injured During Traffic Stop

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A state trooper suffered minor injuries Tuesday after being struck by a car during a traffic stop along Interstate 40.<br/><br/>Trooper Justin Gandy, 29, was treated at an Oklahoma

Tuesday, July 18th 2006, 4:40 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A state trooper suffered minor injuries Tuesday after being struck by a car during a traffic stop along Interstate 40.

Trooper Justin Gandy, 29, was treated at an Oklahoma City hospital for cuts and bruises after the accident at about 10:43 a.m., said Lt. Pete Norwood of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. Gandy was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon and is in good condition, Norwood said.

Gandy had stopped a vehicle on the right shoulder of I-40 and walked up to the passenger side when another car slammed into the driver's side of the stopped car, knocking Gandy into the grass shoulder.

"If he would have been on the driver's side, it would have been a fatality," Norwood said.

Investigators are still trying to determine why the second vehicle, driven by Johnnie Virgil II, 31, of Oklahoma City, swerved onto the shoulder.

The driver of the stopped vehicle, Robert Link, 59, of Oklahoma City, was treated at a hospital for a neck injury and released, the OHP reported.

Gandy, a 1999 graduate of the OHP academy, transferred to Oklahoma City from Pontotoc County. He joined the motorcycle unit in January 2006.