Car slams into Columbia police cruiser, shutting down Highway 63

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A car fire that shut down Highway 63 on Monday morning ignited after a vehicle slammed into a Columbia Police Department cruiser.

CPD said the cruiser was stopped in the passing lane to get a tire out of the road on Highway 63 between Broadway and Stadium Drive at about 12:30 a.m.

One officer was outside the vehicle removing the tire from the road and another officer was in the passenger seat, police said. The officer outside heard "screeching tires and a loud collision," according to a CPD release, and turned around to see that a car had hit the cruiser.

The other vehicle, a Pontiac Vibe driven by Kylie R. Shepherd, 25, of Kaiser, caught fire after the collision, police said. The two police officers helped pull her from the burning vehicle, according to the release. Firefighters then extinguished the fire.

Shepherd and the officer who was sitting in the cruiser at the time of the crash were taken by ambulance to a hospital. Both were treated and released.

Shepherd had not been charged with a crime late Monday, according to online court records.