BROOKINGS – A police officer was injured and the driver of the other vehicle was cited following a two-vehicle crash Monday morning, according to Assistant Sheriff Scott Sebring of the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office.

Police Officer Eric Michael Lee, 39, of Brookings, was taken to the hospital by another officer to be seen for possible injuries after the collision.

The accident was reported at 6:43 a.m. Monday and occurred in the 700 block of 22nd Avenue South in Brookings, Sebring said.

“It was found that 39-year-old Eric Michael Lee was traveling south in a 2017 Ford Explorer Brookings Police vehicle, when 20-year-old Benjamin Jon Mitchell was pulling out of the driveway of the Brookings Mall turning north,” Sebring said.

Mitchell was driving a 2001 Chevy Silverado.

“Mitchell advised that there were two (other) vehicles that were turning into the Brookings Mall driveway and he did not see the police vehicle in the (inside) lane when he pulled out. The vehicles then collided, causing extensive damage to the front of both vehicles,” Sebring said.

Mitchell was issued a citation for failure to yield entering a roadway, he added.

Lee’s Ford Explorer sustained $10,000 worth of damage and Mitchell’s Silverado sustained $5,000 worth of damage.