CATAWBA COUNTY, N.C. — A North Carolina state trooper was injured when a car rolled backwards and hit him during a traffic stop in Catawba County early Wednesday, police said.
According to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, troopers attempted to stop a suspected drunk driver on I-40 around 1:45 a.m. Troopers said the driver was swerving in the westbound lanes when the driver ran off the road near Exit 121, drove into a ditch and drove up an embankment.
When troopers were pulling the driver, identified as 42-year-old Samuel Alan McMillin of Conover, out of the car, the vehicle rolled backwards and the open door hit Trooper Z.E. Beam. Beam was taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries. He's expected to be OK.
McMillini was arrested and is charged with driving while impaired, failing to heed light or siren, and driving without a license. He is being held in the Catawba County Jail.