The Oklahoma Highway Patrol released gnarly dash camera video capturing the moments a trooper was speaking to the driver of his traffic stop when another vehicle crashed into them.
"This video is difficult to watch," Oklahoma Highway Patrol wrote on Facebook Wednesday, sharing the graphic footage.
It shows the moments Trooper Jesse Gregory came to the passenger side of a vehicle as he conducted a traffic stop on Thursday along I-40 at Cimarron Road.
While Gregory was speaking to the driver, another vehicle crashed into the stopped vehicle, which struck the trooper and sent him flying. The trooper is tossed along the ground and rolls over before he miraculously somehow gets up and runs out of frame. At the same time, the stopped vehicle is knocked aside, and the other is seen flipping over several times.
"We show this video as a graphic reminder of the consequences of distracted or impaired driving and the importance of the slow down, move over law," Oklahoma Highway Patrol wrote. "We are in the middle of a distracted driving emphasis right now in honor of Trooper Nicholas Dees, who lost his life in the line of duty after being struck by a distracted driver."
"Luckily, Trooper Gregory is expected to be OK. In fact, all three people involved in this incident were treated and released," Oklahoma Highway Patrol added. "Our investigators are looking into the cause of this crash and the investigation is ongoing."
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In an interview with KWTV aired Wednesday night, Gregory said that "after watching the video, I don't even remember barrel-rolling to my feet."
"When it threw me from the vehicle, I think it really just took most of the blow, most of the damage," he said, showing a scratch on his left forearm to the camera.
"Hopefully, this is my scare of the career," Gregory said, crediting God for him and the other two drivers making it out unscathed.
But the incident last Thursday was not Gregory's first scare this year. Earlier this month, a driver barreled into a Canadian County Sheriff's deputy conducting another traffic stop.
And Gregory was at that scene. Dash camera footage shows Gregory running up to Deputy Jose Tayahua-Mendoza, who was sprawled on the ground, yelling, "Hey, are you OK, brother?"
Mendoza was standing on the passenger side of that car he had stopped for a tag display violation on Jan. 5 along I-40 and Garth Brooks Boulevard when a vehicle veered off the interstate. Authorities say the vehicle sideswiped the deputy's truck and hit the stopped car. The force was so great that the vehicle then careened through the highway sound barrier wall.
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"And he's actually our neighbor. He lives a couple houses down," Gregory told KWTV of Mendoza, who is in a long-term rehabilitation facility but survived the crash. "He was struck in the exact same situation. I was less than a mile from him, and I was actually first on scene and called for help."
"When something like this happens to two law enforcement officers within the same month, you know, this was a month's period that two of us were struck, in the same county within, I would say, two to three miles of each other is pretty crazy," Gregory said.
"I'm ready to come back and just kind of work through it because I know it's going to take a little bit mentally to come back."
Investigations into both crashes are ongoing. The two drivers in the Jan. 5 crash that injured Mendoza also survived, and the driver who was initially stopped by Mendoza is the son of Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat. In a statement to KWTV, Treat said his son was released from the hospital on Wednesday.
"While the healing process will take time, he has recovered remarkably well for the type of life threatening accident he was in," Treat said, thanking first responders and medical staff.
Treat initially confirmed his son was involved in the crash in posts on X. "For anyone who is unaware, my oldest son, Mason, was in a very serious car accident Friday morning while on his way to school after being pulled over for a minor traffic violation," Treat wrote on Jan. 6. "Mason suffered serious, life-threatening injuries, which required surgery. He is still in the hospital and is thankfully recovering. Maressa and I are beyond grateful for all of the outreach and support."
Oklahoma Highway Patrol referenced the Jan. 31, 2015, death of Trooper Nicholas Dees, who, along with another troop, was dispatched to a collision involving a tractor-trailer on Interstate 40 in Seminole County.
Both troopers were standing outside their patrol units when a driver failed to yield to their warning lights, traveled into the collision scene and struck both of them. Dees died instantly, while the other trooper was seriously injured. The driver was convicted of first degree manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years suspended, except for the first five years.
