Man Crawls Out Of Massive Sinkhole That Swallowed Police SUV in Colorado

His patrol car had fallen far below the surface of the earth into a huge sinkhole. But the Colorado police officer had to climb to the roof of his SUV car and pull himself out from below, according to nbcnews.

When Sheridan Police Sergeant Greg Miller drove through an intersection at 2:15 a.m. Friday, the road below him heaved and sent his car falling 10 to 15 feet, according to the NBC affiliate KUSA in Denver.

"Next thing I know ... dirt - I'm assuming dust from the airbag - was floating around," Miller told KUSA. "I hear the rushing water, and all I see is a dirt wall in front of me.

"The door wouldn't open, so I had to crawl through the window," he said. "I reached up, grabbed the rails at the top of the roof, pulled myself up, got on top of the car, and that's when I reached up and pulled myself up out of the hole."

The area was closed off to traffic after police discovered an exposed gas line at the sinkhole.

"I'd rather it be me than somebody - a citizen - driving down the road or kids in the car," Miller told KUSA.

Sheridan's city manager explained that the sinkhole had been caused by a pipe that burst underground. "With last night's major storms, what we think happened is that it gave way at a connection between two different sized pipes," Granbery said, according to 9news.

The sergeant was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, and then was released.

The police has of course lost its SUV car!