An off-duty Dallas police officer was taken to a hospital in critical condition Sunday after being injured in a racing crash near White Rock Lake, authorities said.

The crash happened shortly after 1:30 p.m. in the 7200 block of East Mockingbird Lane.

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Video footage from a nearby house showed the officer in a 2015 black Ford Mustang racing a white two-door Suzuki. During the race, the officer lost control and slammed into a tree.

The officer, whose name has not been released, was injured and taken to Baylor University Medical Center in critical condition. He had been with the department since November 2015, Police Chief U. Renee Hall told the Dallas Morning News.

The Suzuki fled the scene and was last seen traveling east on Mockingbird Lane, police said.

The two-door Suzuki a Dallas police officer was chasing before crashing into a tree. (Photo courtesy of the Dallas Police Department.)

Hall confirmed that speed appeared to play “a significant role” in the crash.

“Each day is challenging with everything that we have to do, but when it’s one of our own, it’s always difficult,” Hall told the Morning News. “It’s the holiday season, and it’s just hard to have to deliver this kind of news to family anytime, but especially during the holidays.”

Anyone with information about the crash or the Suzuki is asked to call detectives K. Land at 214-671-0014 or J. Massey at 214-671-0012.