UPDATED: Troy Police Cruiser Swerves, Flips Over to Avoid Collision
The officer was responding to the area near Maple and Thunderbird roads to assist Birmingham Police in locating a speeding motorcyclist.
Photos
A Troy police officer patrolling Maple Road in Troy sustained minor injuries Monday night when the patrol vehicle he was driving hit a curb and flipped over, according to Troy Police Department spokesman Lt. Bob Redmond.
"(A) police officer was heading east on Maple near Thunderbird at about 10:40 p.m. when a car turned in front of him," Redmond said in an email to Troy Patch on Tuesday morning. "He swerved to avoid a collision (and) struck the curb, which caused the vehicle to roll over."
The car came to rest upside down just feet from a utility pole. Meanwhile, "the car that pulled out of the bowling alley never stopped," Redmond said.
Redmond confirmed Tuesday afternoon that Birmingham Police officers were also chasing a speeding motorcyclist in the area at the time, and several Troy Police officers were responding to the area to assist Birmingham Police in locating the motorcycle driver.
“Our officer was in the area, as were some of our other officers," Redmond said. The Troy officer who crashed, however, was not directly involved in the chase, and the chase was not the cause of the crash, he clarified.
Birmingham Police had pursued the motorcycle through subdivisions in Clawson before apprehending the motorcycle driver near where the Troy Police officer crashed.
“They caught the guy at Thunderbird in a building where he worked,” Redmond said.
The Troy officer, who sustained minor neck injuries, was treated and released Tuesday morning, though his patrol vehicle is totaled. He faces further testing for his neck injuries, Redmond said.
The motorcycle chase and patrol vehicle rollover in Troy occurred nearly the same time as an unrelated freak accident in nearby Clawson, where a 65-year-old Clawson woman was run over and killed by her own vehicle. The incident occurred a mile away from the Troy crash in a parking lot off of 14 Mile Road, also between Crooks and Maple roads.
Editor's Note: This story was updated at 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 10, with information about the motorcycle chase.
Jen Anesi
10:27 am on Tuesday, July 10, 2012
I am amazed and SO GLAD this officer is alright!
canseeallsides
12:22 pm on Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Strange, it doesn't say anything about the high speed chase or the INCREDIBLY HIGH SPEED HE WAS TRAVELING.
Jen Anesi
12:24 pm on Tuesday, July 10, 2012
The crash is still under investigation, and Troy Police aren't releasing any more information at this time. I'll let you all know if we learn anything new.
K.West
4:53 pm on Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Sending best wishes to the officer who was involved. Prayers for a speedy recovery.
canseeallsides
9:35 pm on Tuesday, July 10, 2012
I am glad no one got seriously hurt, that is paramount. Now for some logic and reason...If he was traveling east, the bowling alley driveway is on the OTHER side of the street (north) and too far east from where the car and tracks show (about 250 feet). It was the north curb he hit meaning he crossed all lanes to avoid a guy in the opposite lane? Strange at best, lies at worst. Which direction did the car pull out of the bowling alley? Nothing adds up here except excessive speed that wasn't necessary that endangered anyone in the area. Wonder if anyone got it on video? That might show EXACTLY what the cars were doing. If their reports are true, how a trained driver "patrolling" at 40 MPH can be "cut-off" from 250 feet away in the opposite lane (or not) and most importantly HOW FAST they were ALL going even several minutes before the crash.
Jen Anesi
11:17 pm on Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Two comments were removed for violating our Terms of Use.
canseeallsides
11:45 pm on Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Thank you so much for your work and admin-ing the site, we need local, reliable news. Could you be kind and share which term was violated? A policeman yelled "a**h**e" to a passer by, this is news worthy and should be part of the story. To mike, please re-post a cleaned up version of your comment, your view is important.
Jen Anesi
12:04 am on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
We don't allow profanity in our comments, canseeallsides. You can check out our terms here: http://troy.patch.com/terms
canseeallsides
11:47 pm on Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Mike Jones also commented on UPDATED: Troy Police Cruiser Swerves, Flips Over to Avoid Collision.
"So uhm, if he had nothing to do with the chase, I can be reasonably assured that he will be fired for driving at excessive speeds through the city right? And I am sure he (just like any other citizen) will be taken to court and made to pay for the damages to the curb and the landscaping in front of my house right? Not a chance! These 25 cops who were out there all night havent even managed to pick up the debris from his car or the glass from the middle of 15 MILE RD!"
canseeallsides
11:53 pm on Tuesday, July 10, 2012
No way Mike. It'll never happen until we change the rules for them. They have qualified immunity and rarely if ever are held responsible for their actions from horrible maliciousness to honest mistakes. Were you the guy called a name by one of the officers while you drove by just because you asked what was happening?
Michael Anderson
9:31 am on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Jen, why haven't they released the name of the officer?
Jen Anesi
2:48 pm on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
In my experience as a reporter, police departments very rarely release the names of officers who receive less serious injuries in accidents. Fire departments are the same way, and a firefighter told me once that it is because they like their privacy – and they dislike individual attention, as they are part of a larger department. I'm sure you could FOIA the crash information, if you really wanted to find out.
Mike Jones
11:05 am on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
yes, the cop screamed at me all types of profanity when I asked him, can I drive by here, ... no ... then how do I get to my house???
Thanks for reposting my comment by the way
canseeallsides
11:27 am on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
You have witnesses that saw and heard what was said (and more). We weren't surprised because they treat everyone like that. This crash is a clear and PROVABLE example of public endangerment and recklessness. That officers "outburst" was a clear and PROVABLE example of dangerous unprofessionals.
Mike Jones
11:16 am on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
I was reading some other articles about this and it looks like the true story goes a little different than was originally reported, since we can see this version is a crock of... first off the bowling alley is way too far up the road and on the wrong side of the road and any cop who was "swerving out of the way" would swerve across one lane of traffic to hit the curb, as opposed to swerving across 3 lanes of opposing traffic and hitting the curb.
Any way... I read what one guy posted, and this makes sense, he claims that the motorcycle came flying up Maple, hooked a crazy turn down a side street and the officer tried to follow, or make some sort of U turn and lost control... makes a lot more sense this version does. I just want to know how a Troy police car crashed during a Birmingham pursuit through Clawson, and what the Troy police plan to do to this rouge officer. I get that they have a job to do and I appreciate them, and I hope the cop is alright and all that, it just makes me angry that he had nothing to do with the chase but was going that fast. My girlfriend and I along with her 6 yr old daughter walk down Maple all the time I don't want cops doing 100mph+ down here, I don't want them shooting their guns either, if I was willing to tolerate this behavior I could save a lot of money on a morgage payment and move to Detroit. I want that cop fired to set an example that his decision to behave in such a way is not tolerable.
canseeallsides
1:35 am on Thursday, July 12, 2012
It wasn't just him, it's institutional, the entire department is misguided about safety (other than their own), rights and innocence. It was ALL the police cars involved (some with lights on, some without) driving dangerously and the truth along with their course of actions will make it to the light of day. We'll just wait for them to hang themselves in more lies first to help others understand how bad it really is. We told them that people were watching and they had a chance to act right... why didn't they listen? Qualified immunity thats why. SUPPORT A PUBLIC (elected) POLICE REVIEW BOARD NOW, go to your city council and demand it. So it's ok for an officer to shout A*****E on a public street so a 6 year old can hear him but it's NOT OK to tell the public about it on here? ... um.... SHAME!
patricktaylor
8:44 am on Saturday, July 14, 2012
My only words to this entire barage of illinformed disrespect...."shame on you people".
canseeallsides
3:40 am on Monday, July 16, 2012
"you people" ? Now those are words from a positive spirit :-\
Nothing to see here... move along... please do not feed the trolls.
(well maybe just one bite...)
Citizens must be able to hold officials accountable for their actions, it is THEIR DUTY. This DUTY is not meant as disrespect. Your comment does not surprise me since many share your view. More importantly though, it shows who is really ill-informed.
Mike Jones
1:56 pm on Saturday, July 14, 2012
"Ill-informed", absolutely. The best information we could get on this story was clearly made up. Not informed at all and forced to speculate would be another way to put it. The police have been silent, other than to mention that their rouge officer was NOT INVOLVED IN THE CHASE, so why was he going so fast as to flip his car? I personally own a 2005 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, they are very versatile cars, and when I get on the highway ramp doing 75 through the curve, you feel very little pull at all, they are heavy cars with a designed low center of gravity and VERY hard to flip. You have no problem with this, when did your brainwashing start? In kindergarten when you were forced to "pledge allegiance" to America's war flag? Are you kidding me "shame on you people"? Open your eyes, grow up, and make YOUR OWN educated decisions / opinions. You know in Mexico the Cartels are “always right” and rarely punished for the illegal acts they commit. You could go live in Mexico and turn a blind eye to their affairs the way you seem to want to do with the police here. Just because someone is in a position of power does not make everything they do “right”.
canseeallsides
4:12 am on Monday, July 16, 2012
If policy and reasonable safety were followed, no one got hurt, nothing got damaged, no addition costs incurred and no officer yelled obscenities, then there might be nothing to more to explain or talk about.
Don't we all want them to learn from this IF something went wrong so that it has the best chance of not happening again. If things were not reported truthfully, they cannot conclude anything. Without truth or conclusions, nothing may be learned or improved which may risk repeating danger. At the very least, something was seen that makes what they reported very unlikely if not impossible.
canseeallsides
7:58 pm on Friday, August 10, 2012
From Royal Oak Patch,
"Fourth and Washington, Aug. 6: Royal Oak officers observed a motorcyclist traveling on Washington riding a wheelie and traveling a high rate of speed. Officers attempted a traffic stop on the cyclist. The cyclist slowed and started to pull over, then accelerated at a high rate of speed. A pursuit began with the motorcycle accelerating to over 100 miles per hour. The officer terminated the pursuit in order to not endanger innocent bystanders."
Well done officer! Good call! This is seems a more normal and sensible course of action.