Fort Worth Officer Who Crashed Now in Intensive Care

Published : Friday, 09 Jul 2010, 11:10 AM CDT

FORT WORTH - The Fort Worth police officer who crashed his squad car during a chase on Thursday is now in the intensive care unit and beginning to improve.

Officer Richard A. Lambing, 37, is listed in serious but stable condition. Until now, Lambing's family had requested his name and medical condition not be made public.

Lambing suffered life-threatening head trauma when his squad car crashed into a tree Thursday afternoon on I-30 near Ederville Rd. He was part of a police pursuit of two narcotics suspects on motorcycles who got away.

The force of the impact bent the squad car around the tree. Officer Lambing was unconscious and unresponsive, and doctors performed emergency surgery at John Peter Smith Hospital. Early Friday morning, Lambing was moved to the ICU.

Police won't say specifically what improvements Lambing is making, but say doctors' evaluations have "shown promise."

"Out of privacy for Officer Lambing and his family we are not able to discuss what those evaluations were or specific results other than Officer Lambing is no longer completely unresponsive," said Chief Jeffery Halstead in a media release.

Lambing has been with the Fort Worth Police Department for 15 years, and is a Navy Reservist. He is currently assigned to the South/East Patrol bureau.

On Thursday, police arrested one person on a felony theft warrant that may be related to the original narcotics case out of Mansfield that sparked the chase. However, police aren't sure if this person was in that chase or not.

Stay with FOX 4 News and myfoxdfw.com for further updates on this story as they become available.