In Wednesday's crash at Route 47 and Lake Avenue between a Woodstock police car and two other vehicles, the crash was described in a newspaper article in the print edition this way. "The squad car was headed westbound on Lake Avenue while responding to a call for service when it was struck by a 2003 Ford Windstar that was southbound on Route 47." That explanation came from a press release from the McHenry County Sheriff's Department. Above are photos of the police car, which is typically assigned to Beat 22 (note the number on the fender) and is believed to have been driven by an officer assigned to Beat 22, although his name is not mentioned in the newspaper article and has not yet been released by the Woodstock Police Department.
You decide for yourself. Does it look to you like it "was struck by" another vehicle, or does it appear that it struck another vehicle. Note the extensive front-end damage to the squad car.
Beat 22 is the northwest quadrant of the City, but the squad car was being driven west on Lake Ave. That would be inbound from Beat 24 and well outside Beat 22. Had the officer been assigned to a call in Beat 24, which would explain his being outside his beat?
What was the "call for service" to which the officer was headed with emergency lights and siren in use?
Is there a Department policy for automatic alcohol- and drug-screening following an on-duty accident? It should be a routine step and spelled out in the HR employee manual and the agreement with the union. The assumption, of course, is that an officer on duty has not used drugs or drunk alcohol within a specific period of time before going on duty. But is there a policy?
5 comments:
Clearly the vehicle was STRUCK as reported.
Had the squad impacted another vehicle crossing ( T-Bone), the energy would have caused the buckling of body parts rearward. The door and hood would be dispaced rearward and there would be significant crumpling rearward. There is clearly a body displacement to the drivers side indicating that the other car, struck the front of the squad in a glancing collision. The front right wheel is bent demonstrating a side collision causing the wheel to be drug sideways laterally.
What's your point Gus? Once again trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill.
When you enlarge the photos, it seems pretty clear that the force vectors in this crash were nearly perpendicular to the squad car which indicates that it was struck. Don't think that there can be any argument that it was a right angle collision. If the squad struck the Windstar, the damage would be from front to rear. You don't see that in this case. Also, the damage to the right wheel seems consistent with it moving forward and then suddenly/instantly stopping and shifting direction by 90 degrees snapping the tie rods. What more do you want from the city? They called the sheriff's department to investigate it. The sheriff's department provided information concerning the investigation. Chief has no first hand knowledge, he didn't investigate it.
The big question is the CAUSE of the accident; much more so than the angle of or point of impact.
Let's assume that Officer X (I have the name; just haven't seen it on the Crash Report yet) entered the intersection against a red light, using lights and siren. He would have the legal obligation to proceed with extreme caution, since cross-traffic would have a green. In fact, the Illinois Vehicle Code requires him to drive so as to avoid a crash. He should see and be seen.
Was his line-of-sight to the north blocked by stopped northbound cars or trucks?
Will the crash report state where each car was when the other driver first saw it? And which direction of travel had the red light?
I just heard was that Woodstock was racing to the Red Mill to check on some errant deputies staring at a Red VW Beetle.
Was that the dark-colored pick-up with the cover over the bed of the truck that followed the red VW out of the parking lot, west on Lake Ave., and north on Seminary?
Post a Comment