San Francisco Police Officer Chris Kohrs might have been dubbed the Hot Cop of the Castro last year, but now it's 2015 and we have a new hot cop — and this time, it's literal.
An unnamed California Highway Patrol officer was heading east on the Bay Bridge at around 7:30 Monday night, when he noticed that his car was smoking.
"He smelled some smoke coming from his vehicle. He pulled off at the Treasure Island exit, at which time his car became fully engulfed in flames," CHP spokesperson Sargeant John Zatezalo told KTVU.
He's not kidding, it was really burning. Take a look:
As you can imagine, the Treasure Island off-ramp was closed after that, until about 9:15 p.m. Monday.
As the car burned on, the CHP officer who'd been behind the wheel and another CHP officer who'd responded to assist had took refuge behind a Caltrans vehicle. That's when the burning car exploded, sending debris into the area and, Zatezalo said, hitting the second officer "in the arm and the back of his head." He was transported to San Francisco General Hospital for treatment of his injuries, which were described by CHP as "minor."
Eventually, San Francisco Fire Department firefighters responded to the scene and extinguished the blaze. It's still unclear what caused the fire: CHP says the now-burned-out car was one of their older Crown Victorias, so it could have been a simple mechanical issue. Or, it could have been something in the trunk.
"We normally have flares, electronic equipment, our modems, our radios. We have EMT kits, oxygen tanks, fire extinguishers. Sometimes the officers keep their duty bags inside the truck as well, but as far as ammunition is concerned, I don't believe there was any ammunition in there at this time," Zatezalo told KTVU.
According to CHP officials, they're going to thoroughly examine what's left of the charred car, to make sure this isn't going to happen again with another CHP vehicle.
