Trooper slightly hurt as he swerves to avoid accident, runs off road

A state Highway Patrol trooper was slightly injured Monday afternoon when he ran off the road to avoid hitting a truck that veered into his path.

The driver of the truck, a white Ford 150 pickup, kept going. The Highway Patrol was searching for the driver, a white man.   

The accident happened about 4 p.m. on Butler Ford Road in northern Craven County.

Trooper Brad Porter was driving his 2008 Ford Crown Victoria patrol car back from Troop A headquarters in Greenville to his patrol station in Morehead City.

First Sgt. Kevin Rock of the Craven/Pamlico County patrol district said the trooper was taking the Butler Ford Road detour that runs from N.C. 43 to N.C. 118, then to Vanceboro, when the pickup crossed the center line of the two-lane highway.

Rock said Porter drove to the right shoulder to avoid hitting the pickup head on. Porter came back on the highway and another car was headed toward him, so he "snatched the car back, lost control and went into the embankment and struck a tree," Rock said.

Rock said Porter declined to be taken to a hospital but intends to be checked by a personal physician.

Rock said there was no contact between the pickup and the patrol car.

The second car that Porter swerved to avoid hitting stopped down the road. "Trooper Porter went to check on the driver. No one was injured," Rock said.

He said the driver of the  second car could not provide an eyewitness account of the wreck.

The detour is being used while a bridge is being replaced.

Rock said the patrol car would probably be "totaled out."

"If anyone saw anything or has any information about the wreck, they can call the Highway Patrol in New Bern," Rock said. The phone number is 514-4714.