BATON ROUGE — A man accused of severely injuring three Baton Rouge Police officers after he allegedly drove drunk into a separate crash scene in 2021 pleaded guilty Tuesday.

Joseph White, 30, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree vehicular negligent injuring after previously pleading not guilty following his August 2021 arrest for the crash that happened on I-10 eastbound near College Drive.

White's plea deal carried a five-year prison sentence with credit for time served. He was returned to jail after the Tuesday status conference.

White is accused of driving erratically on I-10 before College when he struck a group of police officers investigating another crash in the area. 

Two officers were hit by White's vehicle and a third was injured after White's vehicle slammed into the officer's police cruiser as the officer sat inside the vehicle, police said in 2021. The two officers hit by the vehicle were hurt badly, while the officer in the cruiser had minor leg injuries, a police report said.

At the time of the crash, White was more than twice the legal limit for most drivers, recording a blood alcohol content of .194%.