Because of their training as emergency responders — prepared at a moment’s notice to provide help and care to anyone in trouble — it’s difficult to imagine a police officer, firefighter or paramedic intentionally causing harm to another individual. This is why it is always a shock when we read of a serious traffic accident involving a patrol car, ambulance or EMS vehicle. Yet, these kinds of accidents can and do happen all over the country. As Baltimore auto accident attorneys and personal injury lawyers, I and my colleagues have seen the results of serious and fatal car, truck and motorcycle collisions involving police and fire vehicles. The damage that can be sustained by a relatively small passenger car when it is hit by a fire truck many times more massive can be significant. This means that depending on the circumstances surrounding the accident that the occupants of the smaller motor vehicle can receive serious to critical bodily injuries. Needless to say, while police cruisers are approximately similar in weight or mass to most average passenger cars and sport utility vehicles, serious accidents involving police cars could be the result of the higher speeds at which that these patrol cars travel. Anyone who follows the news regularly will remember some instance of a patrol car hitting another vehicle while responding to a 911 call of some sort. Like any high-speed accident, this kind of traffic collision can result in a range of injuries, from minor to severe; fatalities are not uncommon in high-speed highway accidents, not unlike a crash involving a speeding police cruiser. In any case, the frequency of these kinds of crashes can be assumed to be low when compared to the overall annual number of automobile accidents around the U.S. In fact, just last month, three people were hurt when a fire truck from Anne Arundel County reportedly smashed into the victim’s vehicle while one the way to a fire in the Brooklyn Park area. According to news articles, the Linthicum-based fire truck was apparently headed along a stretch of Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard when it collided with a car near the intersection of Belle Grove Rd. Based on police reports, firefighters were five minutes out of the Linthicum Fire Station and headed to a reported Brooklyn Park dwelling fire late on a Friday afternoon when the wreck occurred. Based on information from fire officials the traffic collision happened about half past 5pm. News reports indicate that after hitting the passenger car, the fire truck struck a nearby utility pole before it come to rest. The fire truck’s front windows were broken by the impact and the front bumper also sustained serious damage, according to reports. According to news articles, authorities stated that the fire truck was not actually passing through the intersection when the collision with the car happened. Following the crash, two of the firefighters and one occupant from the car that was struck were taken via ambulance to Baltimore Washington Medical Center. All the victims of the collision were reported to have only minor injuries, according to the news article. Ironically, fire officials later stated that upon arriving at the reported site of the original fire call in Brooklyn Park, there was no evidence of any fire in that area. County fire truck crashes, HometownAnnapolis.com, January 28, 2012 3 Injured In Fire Truck Crash, WBALTV.com, January 28, 2012
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