An early-morning crash on northbound I-35 near Howard Lane sent an Austin police officer to the hospital and turned a key north Austin stretch of freeway into a long, slow crawl on Sunday. Investigators say a 23-year-old driver slammed into the back of a marked APD cruiser, spinning the patrol vehicle and injuring the officer inside. The officer was taken to a local hospital with injuries described as non-life-threatening, and the driver stayed at the scene. Traffic backed up for hours while crews worked the scene, with lanes reopening later in the morning.
Crash and arrest details
According to the Austin Police Department, the wreck happened around 5:26 a.m. in the 13800 block of northbound I-35 near Howard Lane, when officers say 23-year-old Zaire Brisbane hit the rear of a marked patrol vehicle at a high rate of speed. The impact spun the cruiser, which came to rest perpendicular to traffic. Police say the officer had been blocking the far-right southbound lane with emergency lights on to shield a separate crash where a large truck had struck a concrete barrier. The officer was taken to a local hospital, and Brisbane was arrested and booked into the Travis County Jail, according to KEYE.
Traffic, the corridor and why it matters
Howard Lane and that stretch of I-35 sit in the middle of long-running mobility and safety planning as city and state agencies try to tame one of Central Texas’ most notorious corridors. Project lists show Howard Lane and nearby sections of I-35 are folded into corridor mobility work and the I-35 Capital Express program, which aims to change how traffic and emergency access are handled when crashes like this one unfold, according to Austin Transportation and Public Works.
Crash trends in north Austin
Local crash-tracking and Vision Zero data show multiple serious crashes along the I-35 corridor in recent years, underscoring how risky it gets when emergency vehicles or stopped traffic sit in high-speed lanes. Those patterns help explain why officers stage and protect scenes with their vehicles and lights, and why drivers are repeatedly urged to slow down and move over when they see flashing lights ahead, per local safety reporting and data from Vision Zero ATX.
Charges and investigation
Police say Brisbane was arrested on a charge of driving while intoxicated after he admitted to drinking and showed several indicators of impairment during standardized field sobriety tests. APD says the crash remains under investigation and has not yet said whether additional charges could follow, according to KEYE.
