Dallas police officer struck and killed by suspected drunk driver

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A Dallas police officer was struck by an allegedly drunk driver and killed early Saturday morning as he stood blocking the scene of a prior accident on the freeway, the Dallas Police Department said. 

"It is with a heavy heart that I announce that this morning at approximately 0125 [1:25 a.m.] a @DallasPD officer, working an accident scene, was struck and killed by a DWI driver," Chief Eddie Garcia tweeted. "Our department is once again mourning, but we are heartened by the strength of his family. Godspeed my brother."

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Family friends identified the officer to Fox News as Mitchell Penton. 

Penton was standing outside his marked patrol vehicle with his emergency lights on in the northbound lanes of North Central Expressway at Walnut Hill Lane around 1:45 a.m. when a four-door Kia Forte driving at a high rate of speed slammed into him, the department said.

He was transported to Baylor Hospital where he subsequently died of his injuries. 

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Penton was an officer with DPD for two years and was assigned to the Northeast Patrol Division, according to a GoFundMe page set up in his honor by a close friend, William Lyng. 

Penton is survived by his wife, Noel, and the couple was expecting their first child together. 

The driver, 32-year-old Phillip Mabry, has been charged with intoxication manslaughter on a police officer and intoxication assault, Fox 29 reported. 

Mabry did not sustain injuries during the incident. 

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Meanwhile, officials are questioning a female passenger in his vehicle. She was also uninjured in the collision.