Off-duty fire and police officials are also expected, like all citizens of New Jersey, to follow proper and safe driving protocols. Even officers are liable to criminal and civil charges when they cause a pedestrian accident injury or death to bystanders or pedestrians crossing in the crosswalk.
While there are some exceptions that allow officers to drive faster than the dictated speed, those occurrences are rare and are acceptable only when being done in the line of duty. In the case of a woman crossing a local crosswalk recently in Chatham, New Jersey, there was no justifiable reason for her to be hit while she was crossing the road.
According to sources, the Fire Chief of Chatham Borough, half an hour from Newark, hit a local woman as she crossed the street. The woman luckily suffered only minor head injuries; police are still conducting an accident investigation to determine what might have caused the accident.
The accounts of the accident indicate that the 51-year-old fire chief was attempting to make a left turn from Main Street when he hit the 42-year-old pedestrian. The woman was walking in the crosswalk. The fire chief was driving a borough-owned fire vehicle but wasn’t responding to a call at the time of the accident.
The pedestrian was taken to a local medical center and the accident is still under investigation by the local police. No summonses will be issued until the police finalize their investigation.
Negligence while driving is often the cause of unnecessary accidents on New Jerseys roads and highways. Regardless of a person’s role in society, state laws require everyone to drive safely and cautiously to avoid accidents. Those who commit harm to others may face serious consequences if they are convicted, such as hefty fines or jail time.
.In addition to this, the victim and the victim’s family may be able to receive financial compensation for harm, grief and loss suffered through a personal injury lawsuit if the accident was due to someone else’ negligent driving.
Source: NJ.com, “Pedestrian in crosswalk hit by car driven by Chatham Fire Chief, say police,” May 6, 2013