Two California Highway Patrol officers that stopped to help the passengers of a vehicle that ran out of gas on U.S. Highway 101 narrowly escaped serious injury Tuesday when another vehicle drifted off the road and rammed their patrol car.

The CHP said that a patrol car had stopped with its emergency lights on behind a 1997 Dodge Caravan at about 1:47 a.m. off the northbound lanes north of Hookton Road. Minutes later, the driver of a 1993 Jeep Cherokee, driving at an unspecified speed, allowed his car to drift off the road. The Jeep smashed into the rear of the patrol car, the CHP said, and overturned, coming to rest on its wheels, blocking the highway. The patrol car crashed into the Dodge, pushing it into the northbound lane.

The force of the collision knocked the officers to the ground, the CHP said, but they were able to assist others at the scene while emergency crews were en route.

The driver of the Jeep, 30-year-old Jay Stephen Curd of Eureka, was not wearing his seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle. He suffered major injuries and was transported to St. Joseph Hospital. The three occupants of the Dodge suffered minor injuries and sought treatment on their own.

The roadway was reopened at 4:06 a.m.

Curd was later arrested on suspicion of felony DUI and booked into the Humboldt County jail.