It’s amazing what some people can do after a lot of practice in every day life.I’ve seen a man who could look at an object from maybe a hundred feet away and tell you it’s height to within less than a half inch.We tried it with objects from 24” to 127” on him and he was correct over 99% of the trys.I guess it depends on mind and eye coordination and reference back ground.Not that this is was happened here on this fellows estimate of speed,but he could be correct to within a few MPHs without a radar gun.

first of all does anyone know what an accident is?? It was an accident it wasn’t done on purpose it could of happened to anyone. I don’t think it’s right that they keep showing him all over the news like a murderer. He’s innocent as far as i can see she pulled out in front of a moving vehicle how could that be the young officers fault. Speed has nothing to do with it you can’t pull out in front of traffic period. I feel sorry for the family but the wreck was her fault. You should look before you pull out.

I feel for the young guy too and I realize he has a demanding and often thankless job.  But, I don’t think any of these young guys driving white and blue Crown Vic’s should ever get the idea they own the streets.

There is a whole lot of case law out there covering incidents like this.  They do not have the right to blow everyone else off the road just so they can get from point A to point B.  Excessive speed on roads like Government Blvd and Airport Blvd is inherently dangerous and they best have proper justification to put everyone else at risk.

Yea,I don’t believe “what ever will be,will be” would be the proper response.Young male drivers have a notorious driving history and I’m sure this will be in a civil court at some point but I can’t help but to feel some compassion for this young man also.

If it does, I would want to see them.  I would also want transcripts or tapes off all communications he had with dispatch leading up to this accident.  I would also take pictures of the accident scene from all possible angles, pay particular attention to any signs of braking.

If it was a member of my family, I don’t think I could just let it go and sing a chorus of Que Sera Sera.

I wonder if this police car had a dash camcorder? I wish this young policeman no ill will and I know he’ll be carrying this with him for a long time regardless of the outcome.There has to be limits on speed when no visual or audio warnings are given to the driving public and I’m not gonna kill the messenger just because I don’t like what he’s saying. You don’t want to send the wrong message to the police officers but you have to protect the driving public from what ever,be it speeding vehicles or people on cell phones.I sure wouldn’t want to have to make the call on this one,I wouldn’t feel comfortable and feel right going in either direction.This is a loose-loose situation but another life might be saved by requiring at least lights when responding to a call needing a faster response time.Again my condolences to the family of this lady and to this young officer.Some situations have no good solutions and I believe this is one of them.

Only a thorough investigation should determine if he should be reprimanded, suspended or fired.  We have no idea what kind of pressure he might have been under coming from his superiors.  Many things could come into play on something like this.

I’ve read over the various accounts of this accident and it sounds to me like the woman had already made it across most of 90 and was waiting her turn to get onto 90 headed west.  The officer was in the left hand lane going east, did not brake and did not swerve into the right hand lane.  Why?  Was he on his radio?  Is there a blind spot in that area?

If I was a family member of the victim, I would be getting to the bottom of all this.

I’m going to make one last comment. If the officer was excessively speeding then he should be fired. If he was going 5-10 over then that is nothing compared to what people do all day long on that road. Anything over that and I agree that he should be fired. After that he should be treated as any normal citizen. For a charge to be brought against him they would have to show that he acted recklessly with regard to human life. In other words, did he speed excessively to the point that he recklessly placed others in danger. If he was shown to be going 80-85 then yes, he should be charged. If it was 50-55 then no, he shouldn’t be charged because I can’t recall any other person being charged for going 10-15 over and killing someone.

The law is pretty clear on this one.  Police officers are not allowed to ignore laws and the safety of civilians, when making routine calls.

If this woman was your mother, wife or sister you would be none too happy with the careless disregard for safety displayed by this young officer.  He needs a refresher course on the law along with all the other officers I see flying down the interstate almost every day.

Alabama Code; Section 32-5A-7 provides:

(a) The driver of an authorized emergency vehicle, when responding to an emergency call or when in the pursuit of an actual or suspected violator of the law or when responding to but not upon returning from a fire alarm, may exercise the privileges set forth in this section, but subject to the conditions herein stated.

(3) Exceed the maximum speed limits so long as
he does not endanger life or property

(c) The exemptions herein granted to an authorized emergency vehicle shall apply only when such vehicle is making use of an audible
signal meeting the requirements of Section 32-5-213 and visual