Crash report: Deputy failed to yield before collision at College Rd and MLK Jr Pkwy

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - A crash report has revealed new details about a collision involving a New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office deputy and three other vehicles on March 2.

The deputy has been identified as Aaron Polar. According to the report, witnesses said that the deputy was driving south on N. College Road with his blue lights and sirens activated through a steady red light at the intersection with Martin Luther King Jr Pkwy. An NCDOT camera also caught the incident, showing the deputy driving through the intersection. The report estimates the deputy’s speed at 50 miles per hour.

The report says the deputy then collided with a Toyota car which had entered the intersection with a green light heading east at an estimated speed of 45 miles per hour. After hitting the car, the deputy’s vehicle moved into the northbound lanes of N. College Road and hit two other vehicles, both of which were stopped at the time.

The Toyota car was pushed about 45 feet into the southbound lane of N. College Road. All of the vehicles are listed as not drivable.

The report says the deputy was driving through the intersection with their lights on in response to emergency traffic, entered the intersection without clearing and struck the second vehicle. The only contributing circumstance noted on the report is the deputy failing to yield the right of way.

Drugs and alcohol are not suspected to be involved, and none of the drivers had any driver’s license restrictions.

The report states that “the data is collected for statistical analysis and subsequent highway safety programming. Determinations of ‘fault’ are the responsibility of insurers or the state’s courts.”

The deputy’s injury is listed in the report as a suspected minor injury. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, however, told WECT the deputy was critically injured and spent several days in ICU at Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center. He was released from the hospital March 13 but is expected to be in recovery for the next nine months, according to a sheriff’s office spokesperson.

The crash is being investigated by the Wilmington Police Department. A spokesperson for WPD says a decision has not been made on charges because the deputy remains under heavy sedation due to his injuries and investigators have not been able to interview him.

The driver of one of the stopped vehicles is listed with a suspected minor injury as well, but the other drivers and two passengers in one of the vehicles all are listed as having a possible injury to no injury at all.

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