MERIDIAN - Police say a texting driver slammed into the back of a parked Boise patrol car at about 60-65 miles per hour Saturday night on I-84 in Meridian.

The force of the crash sent the cruiser sliding about 200 feet down the highway. It skidded to a stop just shy of another police car parked on the shoulder.

Sargent Lori Sperry says nobody was in the patrol car when it was hit. The texting driver was taken to St. Luke's Hospital in Meridian with minor injuries.

It all happened around 10:15 p.m. Saturday, in the west bound traffic lanes of I-84, just after the Eagle Road exit. Three Boise patrol cars were pulled over to the side, arresting another driver on a DUI charge.

The accident smashed the tail end of the cruiser, leaving a three-foot crater and totaling the vehicle. The texting driver's Corsica was also totaled, scraping to a stop in the far left lane. Sperry says the driver had also been drinking, but his BAC was under the legal limit.

The texting driver, police say, is Joshua Benney, 37 from Nampa. No charges have been filed at this time.

Authorities closed the highway for about an hour, diverting traffic off the Eagle Road exit. Once the scene of the accident was established, police had traffic going around by taking the exit and using the on ramp to re-enter the highway.

The crash left tiny bits of glass and shattered car debris on the road. Officers from Boise and Idaho State Police investigated the crash scene and then called in a large sweeper from ITD and two trucks to clear the highway.

Sperry says the accident could have been much worse if not for lessons already learned on similar crashes. All three patrol cars were parked away from each other, to avoid a domino effect in a crash, and all three Boise officers and the DUI suspect were standing on the shoulder out of harm's way.

Sperry says it would have been a different story if an officer and suspect were in the cruiser. The force of the crash compressed the backseat, which would have easily crushed the legs of anyone sitting there.