Charges have been brought against the man involved in the December crash that seriously injured a Highland police officer.
Jesus De La Cruz, 32, of Hammond, has been charged with two felonies and six misdemeanors after hitting Officer John Swisher on Dec. 10, Lake County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Mark Back said Tuesday.
De La Cruz has been charged with causing serious bodily injury while operating a motor vehicle with a blood-alcohol content of .08 percent or more and causing serious bodily injury while intoxicated operating a motor vehicle with a blood-alcohol content of .15 percent or more, both level 6 felonies.
He’s also been charged with operating a vehicle with a blood-alcohol content of.15 percent or more, a class A misdemeanor; three counts of operating while intoxicated and endangering a person, which are class A misdemeanors; and operating a vehicle while Intoxicated with a blood-alcohol of .08 percent or more and operating a vehicle while Intoxicated, both class C misdemeanors, Back said.
De La Cruz is not in custody but does have a warrant out for his arrest.
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Swisher, an 11-year veteran of the department and a K-9 handler, was responding to an early morning call and heading northbound in the 9100 block of Kennedy Avenue when a car driven by De La Cruz heading southbound crashed into him at a high rate of speed, court documents said.
Highland firefighters extricated Swisher from his vehicle.
Swisher was taken to Methodist Hospitals Southlake campus in Merrillville before getting airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill., Highland police Cmdr. George Georgeff said.
De La Cruz was taken to another area hospital, documents said.
Witnesses at the scene said De La Cruz’s car caught wind and spun in the air before it landed in a yard, while the front end of Swisher’s car was “crushed like an accordion.”
Swisher has been released from the hospital and is recovering at home, according to the Highland Police Department.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.