LICKING COUNTY, Ohio — When you know the problem, it should be easy to rethink and understand what could be done differently.
Sadly, more often than not, even knowing that problem many still hesitate to change their ways.
“I’m still sore,” Licking County Sheriff's Office Deputy Sean Corley said.
Corley begs people to reconsider.
“I did not see the car coming at all,” he said. “[It] just came out of nowhere, honestly.”
It was March 11 when Licking County deputies Corley and Jessica Green were dispatched to a section of Purity Road Northeast to investigate a crash.
“Moments later as I am in the process of issuing a traffic citation for the accident, a vehicle seemed to just rear-end me,” Corley said.
Corley, who has been in law enforcement almost three years, was hit. His cruiser was violently forced forward and slammed into the back of Green’s cruiser.
Both were transported and released from the hospital. Licking County Sheriff Randy Thorp says 20-year-old Raymond Snyder was driving the car that hit Corley and that the Ohio State Highway Patrol has charged Snyder with OVI and aggravated vehicular assault.
Less than a week later, Corley is back on the job.
“I like to be out here serving the community,” he said.
He’s now a mouthpiece for that problem.
“It’s simple,” he said. “You got to move over and slow down when you see emergency vehicles on the side of the road.”
In 2020, the Ohio State Highway Patrol investigated 201 cases where parked police vehicles were struck. In 2021 that number jumped to 231. In both years, those suspected of OVI make up about 20 percent of those crashes.
“With it being a headline as it is, people should realize by now it should be common courtesy at that point,” Corley said.
More than common courtesy, it’s the law and has been one in the state of Ohio for more than 20 years.
“At the end of the day when I do a traffic stop for that same reason people say ‘Oh, I didn’t know’,” he said. “At the end of the day ignorance is not a valid excuse for the law.”
Spreading the word. It’s an added pressure that, without hesitation, he says does not take away his desire to help solve all the community’s problems.
“I’ve always wanted to serve the public,” he said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”
Dep. Green has still not returned to work due to injuries she received in the crash.