“A man who pleaded guilty to reckless driving in a suburban Chicago accident that injured multiple people last year is now pursuing a lawsuit over the crash.” William Kivit contends in his Cook County lawsuit that the city of Park Ridge “is to blame for the accident, because a city police officer distracted him by activating his siren and lights, causing him to run a red light and strike a car that was legally proceeding through the intersection.” The pursuing officer was himself found to have violated city policy on high speed chases and was terminated; a “police investigation had determined that Kivit was traveling between 79 and 90 mph at the time of the crash.” [ABA Journal]
3 Comments
If you couldn’t handle lights and sirens, then you were never fit to drive and you held your license fraudulently. Lights and sirens are routinely encountered by all drivers as a normal driving condition.
It’s true that you should be able to handle a siren… but beyond that, it’s rather implausible that a guy going 80-90 MPH in what looks like a partially residential area was going to stop for the red light if only the officer hadn’t distracted him.
Agreed … meaning he’s guilty via either argument and therefore should have no chance of prevailing in a lawsuit … in a justice system, that is; in a gamesmanship system, there’s always a chance, sigh.