So, I was making a left into an intersection (all lights were green, plus a green arrow). I look over just to see two very bright police headlights staring me right in the face. BAM.. I wake up a little later in the ambulance. The curtain airbags on the drivers side (where I was struck) and an airbag in the side of my seat (which I had no idea was there) deployed. The police women had her lights on, but by Maryland law, she was supposed to yeild to whoever was in the intersection when she had a red light. There were 3 witness reports, one of which was an off duty police officer. The police officer, and I quote said, "C-29 (the car that hit me) was completely at fault". The other witnesses followed in by saying it was the police officers fault as well. So at this point the insurance should cover damages (or the car if its totaled) and we have a lawyer looking into the rest of it. I was not seriously injured, except for a minor concussion (spelling?... which I go for a catscan tomorrow for) and neck and back pains. It happened the day BEFORE I graduated, about 10 days ago. As of right now, we only have an estimate on just the body work (not including airbag reparations, or axle costs or anything else that may have been damaged) and that is $6,000. Below is a picture of my baby, it doesn't look bad, but the frame may be bent and the axle will definatly need to be replaced....


More pictures to come

 

My sympathies. Congrats on your graduation though!

 

That shouldn't be totaled.
Glad you're OK - now go and get the 18" rims and new tires if you can
You will need a new rim (and probably a tire) anyway...

 

Hope you're ok. Nice that you have witnesses, especially a cop. Did the cruiser have sirens on or just the lights?

 

One of the witness reports said that she had her sirens to weave in and out of traffic before the intersection, but no sirens as she entered the intersection. Either way, a Suburban (another witness) was blocking my view, so I couldn't have seen her lights, and I did not hear any sirens.

In a way, I am kind of hoping the frame is bent and the car is totaled... I mean... a car is never the same after an accident... and plus... if it is, I'm going for a 6 speed RX-8...

 

I hope you get it totaled. That type of damage, plus airbag deployment decimates the resale value of you ever wish to sell it.

Looks scarier on a Carfax.

Glad you are okay.

 

Years ago a good friend of mine was hit by a police officer while he was riding his motorcycle.

He was in the middle of the intersecton on a rainy night and the cop was stopped at a stop light, all of a sudden she turned on her lights and ran right into him. Aparently she had to respond to an emergency call..

The city didn't pay for ANYTHING, no medical bills not his motorcycle, nothing.. he took them to court , got nothing..

You're lucky you have honest witnesses!

 

Yep. In VA you cannot recover damages unless you prove it was intentional.

 

Glad you are ok. A cop almost drove into my car too. I was stopped at the light behind a modded CRX. Beside the CRX was an SUV and behind the SUV was the cop. So, the cop and I were side-by-side. When the lights went green, the CRX turned left and I was suppose to go straight. Then this stupid cop tried to cut me off and this is at 5mph. Without signalling or even turning on the sirens, his car almost shred into mine. He just inserts his car's nose in there. At first, I thought he was avoiding something on the side but he got a little to close to me then. That's when I realized that this jackass was going after the modded CRX and endangering me in the process. Yeah, for a damn CRX. So I stopped, beeped at him and screamed "stupid!!!" out of my window. He then turned on his siren but that was when he got close to the CRX. I should have reported him but I was too pissed to remember his car number.

I hope you get every little compensation you deserve.

 

I hope you get compensated as well, but PDs are generally shielded from liability if the officer involved in a traffic collision was either in hot pursuit or responding to an emergency call.

Your car won't be anywhere close to totaled and they should be able to pull the unibody sufficient to get the suspension geometry back on-spec.

Sorry man, same color as mine and it just sucks to see it hurt.

 

stupid maryland cops almost hit me too, in north carolina for that matter. a few days after i bought mine, i was heading home north bound on I-95, traffic was at a crawl keep going and stopping going and stoppping. during one of the "going" periods i'm just driving my car forward and i see the cop car coming right behind me very fast, i can see he's not looking forward so i get right up to the bumper of the car in front of me. right at the last second the cop puts on his breaks, he must have been centimeters from my car. after that i changed lanes and let him pass me, i just glared at them as they rolloed past. @$$holes. if he hit my new rx8.......

 

Man, the cop knocked you out??? In CA, you'd have lawyers lining up to get on the bandwagon with that field day. Glad you're ok, and hope you get a good deal of compensation out of this.

 

Sorry about the accident and glad you're OK. A collision between your typical police cruiser and a car the size of the 8 would have turned out way worse if it didn't have all the side airbags.

 

Well, still no idea on how much the total repair cost is going to be. Today we faxed the body shop approval to take the car apart and see if there was any other damages to it. They said if they do the repairs I can expect it to be 6 weeks of waiting... Which also means 6 weeks without my car.

 

thx god that u r ok.

sue the bastards for pain and suffering. go to TVs, current affairs, etc.

 

QUOTE]Originally posted by Xyntax
Then this stupid cop tried to cut me off and this is at 5mph. Without signalling or even turning on the sirens, his car almost shred into mine. [/QUOTE]

Many years ago, I almost got hit by a cop too. I was driving the speedlimit (can you believe it?) on a 5 lane freeway, #2 lane. The cop was stopped on the fast lane shoulder when I first saw him. Then he slams on his gas (no flashing lights), just barely passes me, and then he swirved into my lane just enough to make me slam on my brakes. Then he moved from from lane 1 to 3. I floor it to get back up to the speed limit. But, before I got there, he again trys to ram me off the fricking road. We have one more go around before I discover what the guy's problem is. It was night, and someone had a broken down car in the fast lane shoulder about a half mile in front of where the cop originally started. The guy decided to run across the 5 lanes (Pasadena area). I was the only car around when the guy ran. Thank god for the cop, because he may have saved me from killing the runner. I believe the cops view (and mine too) is it's better to damage the cars than it is to kill a pedestrian. Though, you'd think the cop would have just parked behind the guy and given him a ride across the freeway instead - wouldn't you?

We have to understand that cops are making a split second judgement call. Hind sight is 20/20. Quite often, if you had time to study the situation, you can see where they should have made a different decision. But, they do not have the luxury of time.

Sorry they hit Blazers car. No one (not the officer, not the victom) would be happy about it (unless the victom wasn't hurt and really wanted a MT RX-8 instead of the AT - lol). I'm sure it was regretable.