Officer not charged in Ohio crash that killed 6

[alp227]

Source: AP

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio police officer whose cruiser slammed into a stopped car in the middle of an intersection tried to veer away but couldn't avoid the crash that killed six members of a family, and there is no basis to charge him, authorities announced Thursday.

Investigators concluded that the other driver entered a Columbus-area intersection despite a red light and was struck on the side by an Upper Arlington police cruiser that was responding to a middle-of-the-night robbery call with its lights and sirens activated. The Oct. 18 crash killed the driver, his wife and four of their daughters, and the police officer was seriously hurt.

"It was a dreadful accident, and given the actions of the other driver, it was unavoidable," Perry Township police Chief Robert Oppenheimer said in a statement Thursday.

There were no signs that the driver, Eid Badi Shahad, was impaired. Exactly why he ran the red light or stopped in the intersection is likely to remain a mystery.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/apnewsbreak-no-charge-ohio-crash-killed-6

---

More details in the Columbus Dispatch

[Earth_First]

1. Unless Im missing something...

...why should have charges pended against the responding officer?

[dbackjon]

2. Because police are always looking to kill civilans anyway, anytime possible.

Surely there was a cover-up - no doubt that it was the officer that ran the red light.

[MicaelS]

8. I have read that a lot of cops don't wear seatbelts.

Maybe that's why so many end up getting killed in traffic accidents.

http://www.nleomf.org/facts/officer-fatalities-data/causes.html

[loli phabay]

31. most times its taking the seatbelt off when getting close in order to exit quickly

sometimes its not done as the officer jumps in the vehicle and is in a rush.

[jtuck004]

4. That would explain why the driver froze in the intersection. Driving through on green and look to

your left where you see a police car about to plow through you. Police departments are legendary for covering up their own misdeeds, perhaps because they see themselves as incapable of wrong behavior.

As opposed to the less plausible explanation that with an oncoming emergency vehicle running lights and sirens a car at a red light pulled forward into it's path and stopped.

But that is certainly more than possible too. Maybe they had surveillance from somewhere.

[jsr]

5. +1

[passiveporcupine]

10. lights don't go from green to red. There is a yellow in there

But it makes sense that someone entering an intersection on the yellow and then hearing and seeing siren and lights approaching would stop. You are supposed to stop and pull over if you can, not proceed forward. I am a little suspicious of the idea he entered the intersection on a red. I wish we could see the camera footage.

[Kelvin Mace]

13. They can't

such a device was considered for a time, but given there was no way to keep it from being abused and no way to keep it away from the public, it was never made.

Now, some stations DO control the lights on their street, thus when they "sound the alarm" and open the doors, stoplights in the immediate vicinity will switch to red so they can pull out of the station safely, but nothing "portable".

Even with such setups, lights do NOT go from green to red, they simply cycle to red with the usual stop at yellow.

[Thor_MN]

17. They sure as heck can. And do.

Maybe they do not exist where you live, but here in MN, most traffic signals are equipped with photo sensors that can see an infrared strobe on emergency vehicles. As soon as the device detects the strobe, a small white light will begin flashing and the signals prepare to turn the lights green only in the direction the emergency vehicle is going. There will be short yellows in the other directions, then red. depending on terrain, a vehicle approaching at 80 mph is not going to be visible to the sensor long enough to turn the lights over.

Here, when you see that small white flashing up high over the intersection, your thoughts should be turning to "where the hell is it coming from?" so you can clear the intersection or stop ahead of it.

[Kelvin Mace]

22. The poster asking the question

was asking about a device that can be used to flip the lights, not a sensor on the lights themselves.

[Thor_MN]

23. Did you think they dragged a network cable behind the car?

There has to be some way of transmitting a signal for a device to exist. I described the receiver, and the device that you claim doesn't exist (which I also mentioned) is the transmitter, the infrared strobe light on the emergency vehicle. They use infrared light to control the function of turning the light red in other directions and green for themselves. They use infrared so that it isn't as easily visible, otherwise every asshole could flash their car headlights in the pattern that triggers the light change.

[Kelvin Mace]

24. Ah, no

I would assume that such a device would be radio controlled based on what the poster asked and the discussion of such a device I have heard and read about since the 70s.

The system you describe does exist, and i do not contest that. What I surmised the poster was talking about was a transmitter that could be in your car allowing you to trip the lights at will. Such a device never existed using radio frequencies because when folks tried to build and market these devices some wiser head pointed out that the devices would wind up in the public's hands with very bad results.

The system you describe was supposed to get around that problem, but unfortunately did not.

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/08/68507

So, some jurisdictions did permit these devices, and immediately black market versions of the devices popped up. This made other locales wary of installing them, especially as the law that would have made it a federal offense for a civilian to use one never passed. A number of places tried to outlaw the devices for "unauthorized" users with mixed results.

[Thor_MN]

25. So your assumptions were either that no such systems existed

Or you were thinking in your head that no RADIO systems existed, but didn't bother to specify that you were limiting your answer to radio based...

which really makes no never mind, as such devices do exist. I have no idea if Columbus, Ohio has the devices or if the intersection where the accident occurred was equipped with them, but the fact that the bill mentioned in your link was introduced by an Ohio senator makes it highly plausible that the systems are installed in Ohio.

[Kelvin Mace]

27. *Sigh*

I specifically stated:

1) The system that most people believe exists has been discussed for years and is based on radio transmitters. Talk of these systems existing has been around since the 70s when I was in high school. When I ran down the articles back then, the existence of such devices turned out to be false, though the system had been developed by different companies only to fail to go into production once the drawbacks were considered.

2) Such a system based on IR was developed and deployed in SOME places in the early part of the 21st century, but immediately ran into the exact problems predicted about radio-based systems, i.e. someone would build their own stop light triggers and sell them to the general public causing problems. As the devices were already in place, attempts were made to pass laws making it a federal crime to possess a black market MIRT, but the law didn't pass (this was back in 2005). Local/state jurisdictions tried to pass laws themselves, but with mixed results. Also, some of the MIRT makers fought against laws that restricted who they could sell the devices to, which didn't help matters.

3) The devices that do exist are designed for use under "normal" scenarios. A police car flying down the road at 80mph is not a "normal scenario" since the car is moving too fast to give the lights time to cycle. Whether such a device was used in this case is not stated in the story, but if it was, it will be determined in discovery in the inevitable civil suit.

4) Questions were raised by various posters that light changing devices change the light directly from red to green/green to red. The information on the MIRT devices does not support this, and in fact such a process would be DANGEROUS and leave the company/community open to a liability suit. The MIRT devices simply trip the change cycle in favor of the police/emergency vehicle. Some folks have claimed that the cycle is "abbreviated", which may or may not be true, but would still be dangerous in any case.

5) I have personal knowledge of manual traffic light switches controlling the lights near fire/EMT stations from my time as a volunteer at my local rescue squad in my teens. The fire house and rescue squad were separate buildings in my town, but both would sound an air horn when responding to a fire/medical emergency. The dispatcher would flip a switch at his desk to cycle the traffic lights at both intersections so that the trucks could enter traffic safely and quickly.

I have seen similar systems at work in other towns I have lived in over the years.

My error was in surmising (as I stated above) that the poster was asking about radio transmitters changing lights, since I have heard about such devices for 35 years or so. In my experience the radio transmitter types were never deployed because of the "black market" problem. When you mentioned the IR version, I did recall that they WERE deployed but immediately ran into the EXACT problems predicted, despite assurances from the manufacturers that it wouldn't happen.

One of the other problems pointed out about such devices since the inception of the idea is that they would give policeman a FALSE sense or security/entitlement in using them, encouraging them to speed, thus causing accidents when lights would not cycle fast enough.

If this policeman in this case had such a device, he would be proving this prediction correct.

[Thor_MN]

28. No, You didn't, until now.

What you said

"They can't" (re: "I've heard of some emergency vehicles being able to turn the lights in front of them to green&quot

and

"such a device was considered for a time, but given there was no way to keep it from being abused and no way to keep it away from the public, it was never made. "


It'a OK to make a mistake and be wrong once in awhile. Everyone occasionally makes a big declarative statement that turns out to be totally false every now and then. It's OK, we forgive you for being mistaken that there were no devices for this.

[Blue_Tires]

21. Had you added 'minority' in front of "civilans", I'd agree wholeheartedly...

For the record they aren't looking to kill us ALL; some of us they're content to just throw in prison...

[greiner3]

18. Upper Arlington (UA) is a rich suburb of Columbus OH;

It is 92% white and has median income for a family was $110,208.

When I first saw this in the paper I thought something might be amiss also but I do not find anything to contradict the findings.



With that said, I've lived and known many non-WASPs over the years (I'm mostly of Western European descent) and have heard a lot of stories about UA's finest.

If you are of color, young or anything that is not demographic to UA, you will get followed, pulled over, ticketed and/or just plain hassled.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

6. As I keep saying, driving is serous, pay attention.

[MicaelS]

7. So a guy runs a red light...

Drives in front of a cruiser WITH it's lights and siren on, and you want to charge the cop? Would you be wanting to charge the Firefighters if this guy drove in front of a Fire Truck with it's lights and siren going?

[Ino]

11. I've never seen an emergency vehicle go 80mph through an intersection.

...or even on a straightaway street. Even in the middle of the night. They always slow at the intersections.

Unless of course you have a hotshot cop.

I don't care where the other driver was. THAT'S WHY THEY SLOW DOWN AT INTERSECTIONS! Because shit happens!

Unavoidable, if you're going 80mph maybe. He was going too fast to respond properly. Six people dead. Oh well.

[Blue_Tires]

19. I've seen it pretty regularly

depends on the city, traffic, type of service call, and how far away they are from the scene....

[Ino]

29. That's incredible

They regularly drive 80mph through city streets... 10mph MORE than what would be legal on a HIGHWAY? They regularly barrel through intersections at that speed? By the time one heard the siren, the emergency vehicle would be ON them.

80 mph= 117 feet per second
a football field is 300 feet long

That cruiser was traveling the length of a football field in less than 3 seconds. Through an intersection.

Nothing justifies that.

[Blue_Tires]

30. Not during the middle of the day...

But in the wee hours of the morning, in higher-crime areas? oh yeah....

[madrchsod]

26. they do`t in my city

after a horrible collision between an ambulance and a car at an intersection all emergency vehicles including police cars slow down while going through any intersection even if they have the light.

[hedgehog]

15. More info here, including graphic dash cam -

the article reports the officer was responding to an armed robbery call at a McDonald's, so his speed on that road at that hour may have been justified.

[Crabby Appleton]

16. Link to news report with dash cam video

hope the link doesn't get truncated

http://abc6onyourside.com/shared/news/features/top-stories/stories/wsyx_report-released-perry-twp-crash-killed-6-family-members-29372.shtml#.UwZpnf21zQk

and to the police report - goes into great detail of accident, dash cam analysis, traffic light timing, etc

http://abc6onyourside.com/images/riverside%20crash%20report.pdf

[Blue_Tires]

20. thanks...that's a very thorough report