UPDATE: Officer hit by drunk driver during DWI stop Friday morning

An El Paso police officer was released from the hospital this morning after he was hit by a drunk driver during a DWI stop Friday morning.

It happened around 2:30 a.m. at the intersection of George Dieter and the 11200 block of Montana on the east side.

Police say Officer Andy Rodriguez was conducting a field sobriety test on one of the drivers involved in a crash, when another alleged drunk driver struck an assisting patrol car.

Police say the patrol car then careened towards Officer Rodriguez and the man performing the sobriety test.

Police say Officer Rodrguez grabbed the man performing test and pushed him out of harm’s way before being struck by the police unit.

EPPD spokesman SGT Enrique Carrillo commends Officer Rodriguez’s actions.

“His own safety was the least of his concerns at the moment. He was concerned for the welfare of the person he was dealing with,” Carrillo said.

Officer Rodriguez was thrown violently in the air and taken to a hospital. He was released this morning. The man performing the test was not injured, but was arrested for DWI.

The alleged drunk driver who hit the police car has been identified as 23 year-old Sherry Lorraine Rodriguez.

Court documents state Sherry Rodriguez had bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol.

ABC-7 learned she first told police she had two or three beers.

An officer reports Sherry Rodriguez failed six out of eight times when asked to walk a straight line and turn around and when asked to stand on one leg she failed three out of four times.

Sherry Rodriguez was taken into custody where she later said she really had 3 or 4 beers and that the crash was not her fault adding that she “was hit and lost control.”

She was charged with DWI and was booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility with a $2,500 bond.

The El Paso county website revealed Rodriguez posted bond.