MCDONOUGH, Ga. (AP) – Authorities say a 14-year-old boy suffered serious injuries when he was struck by a police car in metro Atlanta.

A spokesperson for the Georgia State Patrol tells FOX 5 News that a Henry County police officer hit Chandler Jacob Weems of McDonough with a patrol car as the teenager was exiting a driveway on his bicycle Saturday afternoon.

Henry County police Sgt. Joey Smith says the officer “could not avoid the accident,” which happened as he was going on duty. Smith says the officer, identified as Denise Allyson Romano, is “very distraught.”

The injured boy was air-lifted to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston.

Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright says state troopers from the Griffin patrol post are investigating the collision. Wright says the teenager was seriously injured, but did not know his condition.

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