A San Carlos couple is questioning the city of San Diego’s emergency response policy after a police cruiser crashed into them, sending the cop’s vehicle into a group of eight cyclists.
Camille and Scott Martin are recovering two days after their convertible collided with a San Diego Police car at the intersection of Harbor Drive and Cesar Chavez in Barrio Logan.
They say the officer, who was responding to a domestic violence call, drove through a red light without turning on lights and sirens.
“There is no reason you can’t at least flip the sirens on and turn them back off if need be but you have to warn people in that intersection,” Scott said in an exclusive interview with NBC 7.
By the rules of the road and the department's own pursuit policies, personal injury lawyer Chris Hulburt says police do not have the right of way.
“Even if this is an urgent need to get there, the only way to get through this red light is to turn on the lights and sirens,” he said.
Hulburt successfully settled a 1999 case with the city after June Meng Hong was killed by a SDPD cruiser that slammed into her car during a burglary chase in Mira Mesa. The city ended up paying $1.95 million to her husband.
Local
The attorney told NBC 7 officers are required to use emergency lights and sirens to request that other drivers on the road yield.
SDPD investigators on the Martin case could not verify whether the officer was in violation of policy or even how fast his car was going.
There are no known circumstances in police policy that allow an officer to run a red light without warning the driving public ahead, according to Hulburt.
“There is going to be a determination, I predict, that this is a clear violation of the San Diego Police Department's own policies,” Hulburt said.
The SDPD says only that the accident is under investigation.
