The job of police officers is to protect citizens and ensure safety. An unfortunate side effect of their line of work is that they have the potential to be injured in a car accident while on duty. This is what happened recently to a Colorado officer who was performing crowd control duty for a high school in light of protests of the Ferguson court case ruling.
According to witnesses, a man was driving near the protests when his car veered away from the road and into a group of officers who were working. One of the officers got trapped underneath the man’s car and was pulled along for about 25 yards until he was freed. According to reports, the vehicle ultimately stopped after it crashed into a parked car.
The officer, who was stuck under the vehicle, suffered significant injuries and is slowly healing. Due to the accident, he was forced to undergo multiple surgeries for injuries such as crushed ribs — which required metal plating– a cracked pelvis, multiple broken bones in his shoulders, arm and hand, and a cracked pelvis. He also suffers from pneumonia, fever, infections and loss of vision.
The driver was allegedly on medication for seizures and may have had an episode at the time of the car accident. The Colorado driver has not been responding to calls or visits from police, and his medical records have not been authorized to be examined yet to help determine if a seizure was indeed what caused the crash. Police officers who are injured in such accidents are often eligible to file third-party personal injury claims against the parties deemed responsible. This is in addition to any workers’ compensation benefits to which the officers may be entitled.
Source: 9news.com, “Driver who hit cop: ‘I have history of seizures'”, Blair Shiff, Jan. 13, 2015
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