2 Batavia Police-Car Crashes Under Investigation

The is conducting administrative investigations into two different car crashes involving officers.

A March 30 crash involved one squad car and a civilian pickup truck on Randall Road at McKee Street. An officer was about to initiate a traffic stop and was struck by the pickup after turning into an intersection, according to a crash report. Dan Eul, Batavia deputy police chief, said the report indicates that the squad was the "at-fault vehicle."

An April 12 crash involved two police vehicles, on Lincoln Street at Houston Street, while responding to an emergency call, Eul said. A crash investigation indicates that one of the police vehicles, the one turning onto northbound Lincoln Street while another squad headed northbound on Lincoln, was at fault, Eul said.

The officer and civilians involved in the March 30 crash were driven to Delnor Hospital. No one was transported after the April 12 crash.

No one was seriously injured in either incident, Eul said.

Even though the crash investigations into the two incidents are complete, the administrative investigations are ongoing. The administrative investigations for the two crashes will determine if any department rules, laws or ordinances were violated, Eul said in a separate interview with The Beacon-News.

All three police vehicles in the crashes are currently out of service. The department hasn't decided how the vehicles will be replaced. Eul said one option is to take surplus cars that are currently out of rotation and return them to regular use.

Crashes involving police officers are not common. The last crash involving the Batavia department was about two years ago, Eul said.

“They log a lot of miles on the road, and occasionally this does happen,” he told Batavia Patch on March 19.

Eul said it is standard practice among police agencies to conduct their own internal investigations into traffic crashes involving their officers.

All the officers involved remain on regular full-time duty.

The following is a description of each incident:

March 30 Crash

According to police, at 9:06 p.m. an officer drove south on Randall Road before McKee Street, and prepared to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle in front of him.

The civilian driver of the vehicle entered the left-turn lane and prepared to turn onto eastbound McKee Street. The officer entered the left-turn lane behind the vehicle.

“(The officer) stated as (the civilian driver) made the left turn across northbound Randall Rd. he immediately followed behind in order to maintain contact with (the civilian’s) vehicle and initiate the traffic stop,” the report narrative said.

Since the traffic stop was not initiated yet, the officer did not have the emergency lights activated, Eul said.

As the officer’s vehicle was turning, a pickup truck heading northbound on Randall Road entered the Randall-McKee intersection and struck the passenger side rear door of the police vehicle.

The officer said he did not see the pickup truck approaching, according to the report.

The civilian driver heading northbound into the Randall-McKee intersection said that the officer made a left turn directly in front of him. The driver said he had no time to apply his breaks and struck the police car’s passenger side.

Two of the crash’s witnesses thought the officer was going to stop, but they observed him making a left turn directly in front of the northbound pickup truck. The two witnesses were directly behind the squad car. As they entered the left-turn lane, they observed the northbound truck approaching the intersection.

The officer sustained minor soreness and stiffness in the incident, Eul said. The civilians also did not sustain serious injuries.

April 12 Crash

At 7:05 p.m., several police units responded to Lincoln Street north of Houston Street for a report of a fight in progress.

An officer headed westbound on Houston in one of the department’s SUVs and prepared to make a right turn onto North Lincoln Street. The officer slowed down but did not stop at a stop sign at the intersection, according to a crash report.

As the officer turned north on Lincoln, his SUV struck the passenger side front corner fender of a police car driving through the intersection, heading northbound on Lincoln from south of Houston Street. There is no stop sign on the southeast corner of Lincoln and Houston for vehicles driving north on Lincoln.

After the first point of contact, the SUV driver's side rear fender then struck the squad car's passenger side rear fender, according to the report. The squad car then left the roadway on the west side of Lincoln, struck a tree and came to rest. The SUV left the roadway on the east side of Lincoln, striking and bending a parking sign, and then came to rest.

A witness in a separate squad car observed the SUV enter the intersection from westbound Houston without stopping for the stop sign, according to the report. The witness was following the squad car traveling northbound on Lincoln Street, also responding to an emergency call.

Each police vehicle in the April 12 crash, including the witness, had their emergency lights and sirens activated prior to the collision, according to the report.

The parking sign is city property and will either be straightened or replaced, Eul said. There was no structural damage that he was aware of to the tree.

The officers sustained minor bumps and bruises, Eul said. No one sought any medical attention following the crash.