Emergency personnel responded about 1:55 p.m. Thursday to a crash involving an SUV and a police unit at the intersection of Route 3 and Veterans Parkway in Columbia.

Responding agencies included the Columbia Police Department, Monroe County Sheriff’s Department, Columbia Fire Department and Columbia EMS.

The MCSD, which investigated the crash, said a 2018 Ford Explorer police unit driven by Columbia Police Officer Tyler McWhorter, 28, of Columbia, was stopped in the left turn lane from Route 3 southbound to Veterans Parkway behind a white vehicle he was preparing to pull over. A 2018 Jeep Compass driven by 81-year-old Carole Neff of Columbia was traveling northbound on Route 3 and collided with the police unit.

Upon viewing camera surveillance footage, the MCSD said the Jeep Compass collided with the passenger side of the police vehicle in the middle of the intersection. Upon contact, the police unit was spun around several times and came to rest in the lane of travel on Veterans Parkway facing west. The rear end of the police vehicle made contact with the front end of a 2019 Buick Enclave driven by Elizabeth Thoman, 71, of Edwardsville, which was stopped at the stop light facing west.

Neff and McWhorter were both transported by ambulance to Mercy Hospital South in St. Louis County for treatment of possible injuries.