WEST DES MOINES – An Iowa police officer was struck and seriously hurt while working a drunk driving stop in the Des Moines metro area this weekend.
On November 8, 2020 at approximately 12:08 AM, West Des Moines Police Officer Jon Kaufman was standing by with a vehicle on I-35 northbound at approximately the Westown Parkway overpass. The driver of that vehicle had been taken into custody during an Operating While Intoxicated investigation and the vehicle was subsequently being impounded. Officer Kaufman was waiting for the tow truck to arrive. A second vehicle, driven by John Schwartz of Kellogg, Iowa, then collided with officer Kaufman’s patrol vehicle. Additional officers then arrived on scene. Officer Kaufman was transported to a local hospital with serious injuries. Schwartz was transported as well however his condition is not known at this time.
Since the incident, metro police reported that officer Kaufman had been transferred to Iowa City, where he was in ICU with multiple multiple skull fractures (front and back), small brain bleed, and now blood clots. Officer Kaufman is awake at times, and can speak, however he does have a Halo device preventing him from moving his head. Then, officer Kaufman was transported back to Des Moines Methodist ICU, in critical, but stable condition.
Officer Kaufman has been with the West Des Moines Police Department for approximately one year, police say, and is married to Dena Kaufman. At this moment Dena is a little more than eight months pregnant. Since this is a on duty accident, the city will be covering Officer Kaufman’s medical expenses, however, a Venmo account (@Caring-For-Kaufman – last four (4) digits of the phone number that it is registered under, which 9268) has been set up to cover family expenses.
When people get behind the wheel they just don’t care about what is going on around them. Gawking when they should be paying better attention must be drivers’ number one driving habit.