An unmarked police vehicle attempting to make a U-turn collided with a black Ford Explorer Monday afternoon at the intersection of 119th Street and Amsterdam, according to Public Safety officials at the scene.

Both cars were headed southbound on Amsterdam at approximately 3:30 p.m. when “the cop car made a U-turn with another car between it [and the lane],” said a Public Safety official on the scene. “The cop didn’t see the other car,” the official said, because she was responding to an emergency. The police car had its emergency response lights on. The official also indicated that the Explorer was driven by a Columbia-affiliated individual.

“Apparently one of the vehicles was a police department vehicle—an unmarked car—that was making a U-turn and apparently struck another vehicle,” said James McShane, associate vice president for public safety. The police officer was from the 26th Precinct, McShane said.

This is the third car crash in three days, though McShane said he did not know of any others involving police vehicles. NYPD Deputy Commission of Public Information declined to comment further on the incident.

The police officer driving the unmarked car, who was wearing her uniform, was cut and bleeding and had to be pulled out of the vehicle, said Sookdeo Rampersad, an employee at University Student Supply stationery store, located in front of the accident scene. McShane confirmed that she was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital.

One passenger from the Ford Explorer was able to walk out of the wrecked car, Rampersad said. Only the front sections of the two vehicles were crushed.

Police blocked off traffic on Amsterdam between 118th and 120th Streets for more than two hours after the accident took place, and NYPD tow trucks cleared the two vehicles from the scene. Onlookers attributed these measures to the involvement of a police vehicle in the collision. “You never see this many NYPD cars for an accident,” said another Public Safety official. “You never see this kind of response.”

Daniel Amzallag can be reached at news@columbiaspectator.com.