Dashcam video from a police cruiser shows the moment that ice flies off a car in front of it and smashes an officer’s windshield.
It’s a reminder of your responsibility to clean off your car before hitting the road.
This was caught on camera moment and what police say happened next.
It happened this week to a Windber Police cruiser.
The officer was not hurt, but he immediately turned on his lights…and pulled over the vehicle that caused the damage
A moment like this is an example of why Pennsylvania has a law requiring drivers to clean off their cars.
Governor Tom Wolf in 2022 signed Christine’s Law which states that drivers must clear snow and ice from their hoods, trunks, windows and roofs within 24 hours of a snowstorm.
Windber Police Chief Andrew Frear says that luckily in this case the officer knew exactly how to handle the situation.
“In this case, we had the ice flew off the car and struck our windshield of our cruiser, which did cause damage to the vehicle. Luckily, our driver did a good job and was able to just stop the vehicle who had caused it and pull him over and we issued citations to her in regards to that.”
This is what the police cruiser looked like after the ice hit the windshield
“If the snow and ice flies off and it strikes another vehicle, or it just flies off in a scene, you can get a $50 fine for that. If it flies off and causes bodily injury or serious damage, you can receive a fine of $200 up to $1,500.”
Frear says the cruiser needed a full windshield replacement.
He also says that despite people not intentionally trying to break this law it is one that needs to be taken seriously.
“I mean, anything could have happened. The car could have, he could have slammed the brakes. The car could have went out of control. It could have hit somebody. I mean, there’s just a multitude of things that you think about that
could actually happen.”
Frear says the police cruiser was out of service for about a 24 hour period
For ABC 23, I’m Emily Marines