Wasn't mine, fortunately.

A friend of mine here has an 05 (I think) base crossfire. Apparently it got beat up on Monday. Thought the story was interesting, so I'll pass it along.

He was cruising down the interstate with 3 other cars close, the order was state trooper - car - him. He said they were all running about 75 and all of a sudden, the cop stopped. Not turned on lights and got on the side of the road, just stopped in the middle. Obviously that caused some problems on the road. The car in front of my friend managed to avoid any problems and swerved to miss everyone. My friend tried to swerve, but just managed to side swipe a car next to him, messing up the front 1/4 panel and side of the crossfire. I believe someone else hit someone during the incident. All and all, he said about 6 people ended up on the side of the road, about 4 had been hit.

The story gets better though. The cop that caused all of this, clearly witnessing (not to mention causing) at least one wreck behind him, turns on his lights, went across the median, and left going the other way. Unfortunately no one got the guy's number, but a coroner that was driving along and saw the whole thing called the state troopers office and reported the wreck, and told them one of their officers caused it and then left.

Problem is, right now my friend is at fault for hitting the car next to him. Without being able to prove the cop caused it, he's stuck with it. Is there anything he can do to try to figure out which cop this was?

I told him he should have just drilled the back end of the cop car. Wouldn't have gone anywhere without a back bumper.


Remember this is a second hand story, simply what he told me. So I could have a detail or two wrong, but that is 99% of what he said, if not more. Just thought I'd share the story with you guys. I don't have any pictures of his car right now, but I'll see if I can't get some in the next week or so.

 

truth be told to me it sounds like a simple case of people tailgating, following too close to the car in front. Over here I suspect that your friend would be to blame for his damage and to the car he hit

 

Couldn't agree more.

 

unless they find the cop and can have a witnes to also prove the cop did this on purpose then sue him and the Highway patrol, and the state. Oh sue the guy he hit for being in his way and not moving.

 

Doesn't matter.......the law states that you must be in control of your car at all times.

The only way around it is if the cop pulled in front of a line of traffic and slammed on the brakes. From the way it sounds....they were all in the same lane of traffic....that means you cannot run into the car in front of you (you didn't leave enough stopping distance...your fault) or beside you (you were not aware of your surroundings and swerved into another person's lane....again, your fault).


I absolutely love how everyone's answer to anything anymore is to just sue. Apparently personal accountability has gone out the window.

 

I think the sueing comment was tongue in cheek.

 

Considering the fabulous brakes we have the XF must have been following really close. As you drive along you notice how many people are really following too close. Bad habit, but it usually gets cured by an accident such as this.

 

I couldn't agree with you more. This litigious society we live in prevents people from doing a lot of things we once would have never thought twice about doing, right or wrong. Now everyone just sues the next person. Don't get me wrong, there is a time and place for this but not when it's your fault and you sue the next guy just to pass blame.

 

I agree it sounds like he was too close. Like I said, this is just the story as it was passed to me, so you never know how these things can be altered to make it look less like your fault.

I do hate it when people tailgate. I put way more following distance than I need to when I drive, I'll probably never rear end anyone. I'm sure if I got on the brakes hard however, I would be hit from behind. Seems like someone is always too close.

Only thing that was interesting to me about the story was the fact that the cop actually stopped on the interstate. It would just be another follow to close story if something had run out in front of the cop and he had to slow down or something, but the guy actually stopping? There's got to be some kind of law against that, right?

I do think it will be put down as his fault, and I don't think he will be able to get out of it. I just have a hard time imagining what I would do if someone stopped in front of me on the interstate. Like I said, I would probably have plenty of room to stop for any normal situation, but someone stopping? And as soon as you slam on your brakes, you are probably going to get hit.