Deputy Pulled From Wreckage Of Rollover Crash

A King County sheriff's deputy responding to a burglary call in White Center was trapped in his cruiser after his car shot off the road and landed on its side down an embankment early Friday.

Sheriff's department spokesman John Urquhart said the 30-year-old officer was on his way to a call in which police had a burglar cornered at 2 a.m. when his car went off Des Moines Memorial Drive at South 104th Street and careened down a 15-foot embankment, trapping him inside.

Urquhart said the deputy was choked unconscious by his seatbelt after a fence rail went through the windshield and pinned the belt against his neck. Three neighbors who heard the crash helped remove the windshield and save the deputy's life, Urquhart said.

It took firefighters about 30 minutes to cut the roof off the police cruiser so they could reach the injured deputy.

The deputy regained consciousness before he was transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Urquhart said the deputy, who works for the city of Burien, was in serious but stable condition in Harborview's intensive care unit.

He has been with the department for about a year-and-a-half.

Investigators are not sure what caused his car to leave the road.

"Eventually they'll probably bring in a forensic mechanic to look at the car and see if there's anything wrong with the car," said Urquhart.

Des Moines Memorial Drive was closed for several hours while the crash was investigated.

The burglary suspect in White Center was arrested by other officers.