Distracted Police Officer Plows Into Cyclist with Cruiser
Distracted driving is a growing epidemic in our country, growing so bad that even police officers are taking their eyes off the road to look at their phones while driving their cruisers. Luckily for this bicyclist, his helmet-mounted GoPro caught all the action, including the officer admitting freely that he was looking at his phone at the time of the incident.
The video opens to the view from the cyclists helmet looking directly at the Peculiar officer as the cruiser begins to make a left turn. The cyclist, expecting an officer of the law to be keenly aware of his surroundings, has no reason to expect the Ford Explorer would be moments from plowing into him as he waited for traffic.
As you see in the video, though, the officer does in fact cut the corner so much that the actually plowed over the cyclist. Only after the impact does the officer seem to realize what’s happened. He quickly slams on the brakes and brings the SUV to a stop, but by that point, the damage had been done.
The officer opens the door to accusations that he was looking at his phone, which he admits immediately, claiming he got a text from another officer, as if that somehow absolves him of responsibility.
Judging by the speed of the police cruiser at the time of the impact, the bike is almost certainly damaged, a fact the rider points out toward the end of the video. The officer pulls the cruiser to the side of the road and attempt to help the cyclist, who seems to be banged up but free of major injuries. He does have some scrapes and is likely to be sore for quite some time after the impact, but this certainly could have been much worse.
The officer admits again a couple of times that he was on his phone, which in the opinion of most, puts the blame squarely on him to not only take care of any medical costs the rider incurs, but to to repair his bike back to its pre-crash state.
https://www.facebook.com/kmbc9/videos/10156409521586221/