A Des Moines Police squad car ran over a woman who was lying on a sidewalk, with her legs sticking into a roadway early this morning. Sergeant Scott Raudabaugh says Officer Brian Cuppy was responding to the report of a person lying in an alley just before 1 a.m.
“When he turned, he didn’t see that somebody was actually laying on the sidewalk with their legs lying into the public roadway. Unfortunately, he ran over that person’s legs,” Raudabaugh said.
The woman’s name is not being released. She was later found to be intoxicated and was taken to a hospital for treatment of scrapes and abrasions.
It is not believed Officer Cuppy will face any disciplinary action. “Everything at the point indicates it was purely an accident, as unfortunate as it is,” Raudabaugh said. “It is unfortunate both for the woman who was run over while lying in a public roadway and unfortunate for the officer, he certainly didn’t have any expectation that somebody would be laying in the street.”