Officer Read Laptop Before Hitting Truck (She struck a tanker that had stopped at railroad crossing)

The Florida Times-Union ^ | Jim Schoettler

[nickcarraway]

A Jacksonville police officer was reading her in-car laptop moments before her cruiser rear-ended an empty gasoline tanker truck Monday morning, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Officer Amanda Meyer, 29, was driving west in the 1500 block of Zoo Parkway about 8:30 a.m. when her car struck the truck, said Lt. Bill Leeper, a Highway Patrol spokesman. Leeper said the truck had stopped at a railroad crossing, as required by state law, and was about to head across when the accident occurred.

Leeper said Meyer had briefly glanced at her in-car laptop, which is mounted to her right, before the accident. When she refocused on the road, she tried to swerve to miss the truck, he said. The right front of her vehicle struck the truck.

The patrol car was traveling about 40 mph in a 45-mph zone when the accident occurred, said Sgt. Joel Johnson of the Highway Patrol.

Meyer suffered injuries to her left arm. She was taken to Baptist Medical Center, where she was treated and released. The truck driver, Andrew Holmquist, 42, was not injured. The truck is owned by Florida Rock & Tank Lines.

Leeper said investigators have yet to complete the accident report or determine if charges will be filed against Meyer. This is her first wreck as a police officer.

The Sheriff's Office has no written policy regarding the use of laptops by officers in transit, said J. Carson Tranquille, chief of patrol east. Tranquille said officers are told during training not to read or type on their laptops while driving.

Of the lack of a written policy, Tranquille said, "We're going to look at it."

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The law requiring certain vehicles to stop at all RR-crossings is insane.

There is a crossing near my town on a four-lane highway with a posted speed-limit of 70 and everybody does 80.

Once a week somebody slams into the back of a school-bus or tanker-truck there.

There can be no common sense when it comes to the law.

[MediaMole]

I have a couple friends who say it’s just a matter of time until they crash while using the laptop to run a plate.

They also get their non-emergency dispatch orders over the system.

On top of that, our local departments have an encrypted IM system. The officers do a lot of their chat on the system. That’s more stoplight stuff and while running radar by the side of the road, but occasionally...

[PalmettoMason]

I never see a police car traveling below the speed limit.

Me either. It is crazy around here. Police cars routinely going 15-20+ MPH over the posted limit.

Recently, I was nearly broadsided by a police car running a red light. He was passing the cars stopped for the light by driving at a high speed on the wrong side of the road, with no siren, only blue lights. He had to slam on his brakes, and slid almost into my drivers side door. Then he rolled down his window and screamed obscenities at me, before speeding off.

I asked someone I know (who is in law enforcement) about it, and he said that they are forbidden to use the siren when responding to a call unless specifically instructed to do so. He said they don't want to alert the "bad guys" that they are coming.

I guess the element of surprise is more important than the safety of the driving public.

[relictele]

Local officers sworn to ‘protect and serve’ often can’t be bothered to patrol....instead they sit alongsode the road running plates on the in-car laptop fishing for an expired tag, inspection, etc.

[SampleMan]

I never see a police car traveling below the speed limit.

Oh so true. I just love getting passed by a police car going 65mph in the 45mph strip, where if they aren't speeding they are giving out tickets for going 5-10 over.

[NonValueAdded]

Of the lack of a written policy, Tranquille said, "We're going to look at it."

Hey, Tranquille, not while you're driving!

And a police cruiser going 5 mph UNDER the speed limit? Not very likely.

[Teacher317]

CAD-computer aided dispatch.

Not SCMODS?

[Tainan]

...put some ice on it.

[jaydubya2]

"Recently, I was nearly broadsided by a police car running a red light. He was passing the cars stopped for the light by driving at a high speed on the wrong side of the road, with no siren, only blue lights. He had to slam on his brakes, and slid almost into my drivers side door. Then he rolled down his window and screamed obscenities at me, before speeding off."

A few years ago, a fellow work of mine was killed when he attempted to make a U-turn and was t-boned by a police officer driving westbound at a high rate of speed in the eastbound lane. My fellow worker was determined at fault because he had just left the bar and was slightly over the .08 BAC limit. The officer was running lights but no siren.