Last fall, I was involved in an accident with a Cambridge, MA police
cruiser. No citations were issued, but my insurance company found me
at 95% fault. I'll be appealing the insurance surcharge with the state
of Massachusetts this Friday, but wanted to get some advice from this
forum first.
Here's what happened: I was the lead car traveling through an
intersection with a green light. Just after I entered the
intersection, the front of the police cruiser hit the side of my car
(in front of the driver's side door). The reason the officer was going
through a red light is because she was leading a funeral procession.
She did not have her sirens on, though she says she had her lights on.
Due to the traffic in the intersection, she was not visible to me nor
was I visible to her. This is because the road I was on had three
lanes in the direction I was heading, with the leftmost lane being a
turn only lane, and that lane had a long line of cars waiting for a
left turn signal. This effectively blocked her view of the other two
lanes she was about to cross (including the one I was traveling in)
and my view of her car.
The surcharge notice I received says that I was found at fault because
I "hit a legally or illegally parked car." Even if I ignore the fact
that I had right of way and there was no reason for me to stop at the
intersection, this surcharge claim baffles me. The office was clearly
not parked, she was moving.
Here's the evidence I have:
1 - Pictures of my car and the officer's car. These clearly show that
the side of my car is damaged.
2 - State police re****t that confirms what happened. This is confirmed
by me, my wife (who was in the car with me), the officer involved in
the accident, and a witness.
One other data point: when the accident first occurred, the officer
claimed that she was not moving at the time of the accident and that I
hit her. I believe this is what she told the City of Cambridge and the
insurance company (my insurance company told me that she was claiming
this). The state police officer found the witness several weeks later.
I believe after the witness's story aligned with ours, the state
police officer went back to the Cambridge police officer and asked her
to reconcile. At that point, I believe she conceded that she wasn't
parked and did in fact hit us. I don't believe she went back to my
insurance company and informed them of this. The insurance company did
receive a copy of the state police re****t.
I would love tips on how to handle the surcharge appeal this Friday.
Do I just need to prove that the Cambridge police officer was not a
parked vehicle? If so, that's easy to do because the state police
re****t clearly states she wasn't. Or do I have to prove that it wasn't
my fault? There's no way I could have seen her, I had a green light,
and she hit me.
Please help!
Thanks,
PB
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