Last night I was returning home from a flight (13 hour shift). I fly on the AWACS. Anyways, I was going south bound on a 4 lane road, he was about 80-100ft in front of me, when I guess he got a blip on his radar from someone going north bound and decided to turn his lights while busting a U turn from the outside lane into my lane and go get the guy... well, basically you can't stop a 4x4 Chevy Blazer very fast and we connected. I tried to go into the oncomming lane to get out of the way because I figured he would have seen my head lights and stop while he was making the turn just quick enough for me slide by. I couldn't have went in the right lane where he originated from because I would have clipped his tail. Airbag punched me in the face, burned my hand and my shoulder is kinda stiff. My Blazer was in MINT condition. Not a problem have I had with it. Brand new tires, new shocks, idler arm... oil was changed like 1500 miles ago along with the oil filter and air filter. I just got it in Oct.

5 cop cars show up along with a fire truck and an ambulance... kinda overkill, but hey. Took about an hour to an hour and a half to get everything done. I didn't get a ticket and I had 2 cops come up to me and say that it definatly was not my fault, so I think I'm good there.

I went to the flight doc. today and she said I should be ok. But to keep an eye on it.

Are my insurance rates going to go up? Can I take any legal action here? The cops here drive over the speed limits all the time, fail to stop, fail to yeild... I see it all the time.

Thanks for any insight.

Pics:
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After:





Wife didn't get any of the cop car. These were taken with a phone...

 

you're probably screwed, but get a lawyer and sue them

 

If I remember correctly (at least in my state, NJ) anytime a government/state vehicle hits you, your insurance rates will not go up. I beleive they take care of everything. This scenario happened to my parents almost exactly.

Marked police car came out of a side street without stopping and my parents Tboned him hard. The town took care of everything.

 

They'll argue he had his lights on and you should've pulled over or yielded, regardless of the actual happenstance. Winning an argument over a cop is hard but it can be done with professional help. Your insurance will most likely go up too.

 

lol. you say that a lot <.<

 

Talk to this guy, he'll help you out:
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they need to learn their lesson, and a regular citizen doesn't teach them very effectively

 

You should talk to your insurance company anyway and report it, whether it was your fault or the cop's. It puts your insurance company's lawyers in a better position to protect you the earlier they know about the incident if the city starts claiming it was your fault and start going after your liability coverage. That's why you pay insurance.

Your insurance company should have the experience for filing a claim against the city. Talk to them first. If you have collision coverage, your insurance company will pay, and they will subrogate against the city to recover their costs. Let them pay for the lawyer to write the "pay up" letter.

If you don't have collision/full coverage, most companies I've dealt with have advisors that can at least walk you through the process of claiming against theirs. Call up the city attorney's office and tell them you would like to file a loss claim and you want to be directed to where that could be handled. They'll direct you to their insurance carrier or an internal department set up to handle that.

You should at least be able to claim the loss of your vehicle. Unless you were permanently disabled, I don't know how a recoverable injury is handled. You're active military so Uncle Sam is picking up that tab. Talk to your base legal aid to figure that out I guess.

--Carlos V.

 

I already talked to my insurance this morning. I know I'm getting the money for my blazer, and USAA is going to get atleast my deductable from them, but I want to know if I can pursue any action against the law driving insanly. I mean, who just busts a Uy from the outside lane?

It really puts me in a bad spot because now I have to drive my waxed 3 times over car on the salty crappy roads of OK...

 

in before kyushin