NORTHAMPTON — A city police officer remained hospitalized Tuesday and has undergone two surgeries after a two-car crash Saturday night left him and another driver with serious injuries, according to Northampton Police.
Officer Matthew Knowlton was traveling west on Route 66 at around 11:30 p.m. when he saw a car headed toward him in the opposite lane at high speed, according to police. Police said his radar check clocked the driver at more than 70 mph in a 35 mph zone and that the vehicle crossed into the westbound lane and struck Knowlton’s police cruiser. Knowlton suffered a broken leg, cut himself out of his seat belt and climbed out of his window to aid the other driver, police said.
The Northampton Police Department and Northwestern district attorney’s office said they did not have information Tuesday about the condition of the other driver involved in the crash. Like Knowlton, she had serious injuries and was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, according to police.
Northampton Police Capt. Robert Powers said on Tuesday that Knowlton’s injuries were “non-life-threatening injuries but serious.” The crash remains under investigation, Powers said.
No charges had been filed ny Tuesday afternoon, according to Mary Carey, a spokesperson for the DA’s office.
Knowlton has been an officer in Northampton for about a year. Though he was still in the hospital Tuesday, he was “in good spirits,” the Northampton police wrote on their Facebook page.