Highway patrol troopers are used to dealing with drunk drivers, but it’s rare for them to encounter two of them at the same time. That’s what happened late at night in Ohio when one officer, who was already in the middle of a DUI traffic stop, came within inches of being struck by another drunk driver in a large SUV who zoomed past him on the sidewalk. Bodycam and dashcam footage from the police capture the cop’s sudden brush with death.
Dashcam footage shows black SUV mere inches away from hitting a trooper
On October 24 at around 2:47 a.m., two officers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol were conducting a traffic stop of 20-year-old Aubriana Cox when one of them was almost hit by a black SUV, according to a post from the department’s official Facebook page and a report by The Toledo Blade.
Video shows the troopers from Toledo Post conducting a field sobriety test on Cox by moving a flashlight past her eyes left and right on Monroe Street. They had asked the woman to step out of the vehicle due to a broken taillight and her admitting that she had a drink before driving her vehicle. That’s when a male driver, later identified as 37-year-old Justin Straub who resides near the 1800 block of Raynor Drive, races past an officer in a black Chevrolet Traverse without braking.
“Holy s***!” the officer shouts as he steps forward to get out of the vehicle’s path.
According to a crash report by the Toledo Police Department, Straub’s SUV crossed the center line on Monroe Street near Upton Avenue, struck the stopped sedan owned by Cox, ran over a no-parking sign, almost swiped the officer, and then hit a fence before fleeing the scene. Cox is visibly shocked at seeing the near-miss, placing her hands against her mouth.
In addition, the crash report notes the SUV “came very close to striking all three subjects involved in the traffic stop.” This is despite the fact that “the state trooper cruisers did have their emergency overhead lights activated.”
Straub faces a long list of six charges after near-miss
The video then cuts forward about four minutes to where troopers have already pulled Straub over several blocks away on Christie Street and ordered him to step out of the Traverse.
Bodycam footage shows Straub trying to explain what happened by saying that he was turning the knob on his radio when he accidentally drifted onto the sidewalk. While the driver claims that he has no drugs in his system, the officer tells him that he can barely stand up straight. The video shows Straub having trouble walking in a straight line.
Fortunately, the Ohio State Highway Patrol reports that no one was injured during the stop and that both Cox and Straub were arrested for operating a vehicle while impaired. That said, Straub faces additional charges, including criminal endangerment, failure to follow marked lanes, driving on a sidewalk, leaving the scene of an accident, and failure to move over for an emergency vehicle.
“Incidents like this serve as a stark reminder that impaired driving due to drugs and/or alcohol puts everyone on Ohio’s roadways at risk,” the OSHP’s post continued. “So far in 2026, troopers have arrested 12,540 drivers for impaired driving, with 2,968 of them attributed to drug-impaired driving.”
The Toledo Blade reports that Straub was taken to a hospital for evaluation and later booked at Lucas County Jail. He was later released and entered a plea of not guilty during an appearance in Toledo Municipal Court on Thursday, October 29.
Cox appeared in court on the same day in the afternoon for her OVI, which is short for an Operating a Vehicle Impaired charge in Ohio.
