Officer Accidentally Drives Over Man
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SAN DIEGO — A San Diego police officer accidentally drove her patrol car over a homeless man Thursday as he lay in an empty parking lot at Balboa Park, reading a book, officials said.
Michael Faloon, 39, was in good condition Thursday night at Mercy Hospital, recovering from broken ribs and severe burns, officials said.
“I was reading ‘Border Music’ by Robert Waller, who wrote ‘The Bridges of Madison County,’ ” Faloon told KNSD-TV from his hospital room. “I propped myself up and I closed my eyes. The next thing I knew, I was being dragged underneath a car.”
Witnesses said the officer’s car entered the parking lot slowly and was making a U-turn when she drove over Faloon, an unemployed accountant from Nebraska.
Faloon was trapped for almost half an hour until paramedics removed the car with a hydraulic lift.
He said he was wedged under the car’s catalytic converter and the hot metal burned his stomach.
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