A Duluth police officer remains hospitalized in critical condition following a hit-and-run crash early Saturday morning, officials said.
The wreck occurred shortly before 4:30 a.m. at the intersection of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and Abbotts Bridge Road, Duluth police spokesman Officer Ted Sadowski told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Authorities said a suspected drunken driver slammed into Officer Rickey Porter’s patrol SUV after running a red light in a Ram 3500 pickup. The unconscious officer was rushed to the hospital with “significant injuries” after being extricated from the vehicle by Duluth officers and Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Services.
Porter, who has worked with Duluth police since December 2008, is still in the hospital and is stable, according to a GoFundMe page set up to help the officer’s family.
“Due to the extensive injuries, Officer Porter will need extended care and rehabilitation that will no doubt be a long road to recovery for he and his family,” the page read. “While medical expenses are being taken care of by city of Duluth insurance and Officer Porter’s regular pay will continue during his recovery, there are additional expenses the family will encounter to provide proper care for Officer Porter and his children.”
The page had raised more than $1,300 as of Thursday morning.
Porter previously worked for Stone Mountain police, according to Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training Council records.
Following the crash, the driver got out of the truck and ran from the scene, authorities said.
Gwinnett County police responded to the hit-and-run and used K-9 units and the department’s helicopter to search for the suspect. The driver, identified by police as 30-year-old Eduardo Gutierrez of Americus, was eventually located by another Duluth officer and arrested.
He faces seven charges, including DUI, reckless driving, serious injury by vehicle, hit-and-run and failure to obey a traffic control device. He’s also accused of driving without a license and not wearing a seatbelt, police said. Gutierrez was taken to the Gwinnett County Jail, where he remained Thursday without bond.
— AJC data specialist Jennifer Peebles contributed to this article.
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