A police officer in Tennessee was responding to a car accident when he lost his life. He had parked his patrol car on the roadway and had begun directing traffic, having responded to a call about a pickup truck that, while driving on the ramp, had rolled over. Another response truck from the Tennessee Department of Transportation was also on the scene.
The second accident happened when a motor home came around the corner in the road. The driver, a 71-year-old man from Florida, could not see the parked vehicles in time to avoid them. He did what he could, trying to turn the motor home so that it would pass between the patrol car and the response truck, but the vehicle then slammed right into the police officer. The young officer, who had only been out of the academy for a number of months, was dead at the scene.
The driver of the motor home stopped as quickly as he could, got out, and tried to run back to the scene to offer what aid he could. However, others who knew how bad the officer’s injuries were intercepted him and kept him from the crash site. Those who had watched the crash while sitting in traffic stated that they did not think that the driver could have done anything else that would have avoided the crash, but the police will investigate.
Even when a car crash appears to be an accident — the police have not yet filed any sort of charges — there could still be legal options for the family of anyone injured or killed in an accident.
Source: The Tennessean, “Metro officer killed after I-65 crash” Brian Wilson and Jamie McGee, May. 12, 2014