Police Officer Injured in Central Park Scooter Crash Updated March 3, 2011 11:43am

Part of West Drive was blocked off Thursday morning. The scooter's door was damaged and its roof was taken off. (DNAinfo/Elizabeth Ladzinski)

Elizabeth Ladzinski

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

CENTRAL PARK — A police officer assigned to the Central Park Precinct was injured when his scooter struck a light signal pole inside the northwest section of the park on Thursday morning, officials said.

The accident happened around 8:14 a.m. at West Drive and 77th Street, an FDNY spokesman said. The road enters the western side of Central Park near the American Museum of Natural History and loops around the reservoir.

The unidentified officer was taken to Saint Luke's Hospital with neck and back injuries, police and the FDNY said. He was in stable condition. He was not identified.

The stoplight was located at West Drive at the intersection with the 77th Street crosstown transverse. The pole lay in the grass next to the intersection Thursday morning, and traffic on 77th Street was temporarily closed.

The scooter's door was damaged and its roof was taken off. (DNAInfo/Elizabeth Ladzinski)

The NYPD scooter remained on the scene, and the door appeared to be hanging by a single hinge, and the vehicle's roof had been cut off and was beside it on the ground.