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Video shows distracted police officer run head-on into stopped bicyclist

Posted at 8:30 PM, Jul 28, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-28 22:30:48-04

A collision between a Missouri police officer and a bicyclist was caught on camera and has prompted an investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The video, titled "Cop Distracted by Phone Hits Me Head On" was posted to YouTube on Thursday and has since been viewed over a million times.

In the video, you can see a bicyclist stopped at an intersection and checking to see if traffic is clear. The rider looks to the right, then the left, and as he looks back right you can see a police SUV labeled "Peculiar, MO" crash into him at a low rate of speed.

The video was shot from a camera presumably on the bicyclist’s head.

"Why the (expletive) were you looking at your phone, officer?" the bicyclist asks immediately after the collision. 

The video then shows the officer acknowledging he was using his phone, but he denies that he was texting. "It was my bad, I wasn’t paying attention," the officer says.

At the end of the video, a voiceover from the bicyclist says he was sore but not seriously injured. He says the bike is "most likely toast."

A crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol says a crash occurred Thursday in Peculiar involving Charles Wallace, driving an SUV, and Joseph Fasanello, a bicyclist. KCTV-5 has identified Wallace as the officer shown in the video and Fasanello as the bicyclist. In an interview with the station, Fasanello said the officer was an "irresponsible moron."

KCTV-5reported that Wallace has been suspended with pay while the Missouri State Highway Patrol completes their investigation.

The Kansas City news station reported in a Facebook post that the Missouri State Highway Patrol has confirmed distraction was a contributing factor in the incident.