Florida Police Cruiser Collides With Motorcycle
BRADENTON, Fla. -- A Bradenton couple was injured late Wednesday morning when the motorcycle they were riding on collided with a Bradenton Police Department patrol car causing them to fly over the vehicle.
The accident occurred just before noon at the intersection of 14th Street West and 21st Avenue West as a bomb scare was unfolding at the nearby Bradenton Village apartments.
"He was looking for the suspect in the bomb threat," Bradenton Police Capt. Darrell Akemon said. "He was distracted when he turned onto 21st."
The motorcycle was travelling north on 14th Street West and the officer was about to turn onto 21st Street West when he failed to yield.
Jennifer Dietrick-Beisel and her husband were on their way home from a doctor's appointment when the accident occurred.
"We weren't speeding," Dietrick-Beisel said. "He didn't yield for us."
Dietrick-Beisel said the crash was unavoidable and she and her husband landed on the opposite side of the patrol car from the impact.
"He broke his left ankle. It went the other way and there was blood everywhere," Dietrick-Beisel said. "I was
laying right next to him on the floor."
The couple were treated at a local hospital where her husband underwent emergency surgery to repair the fracture, Dietrick-Beisel said. Doctors told her he will need additional surgeries to repair the damage.
"At least he is alive and he was talking to me before he went into surgery," Dietrick-Beisel said.
Akemon said an internal investigation will be conducted to determine if the officer was at fault. A BPD employee policy mandates any employee who crashes a city vehicle and is found at fault receives a mandatory one-day, unpaid suspension.
Akemon said it was an unfortunate accident and it happens more often than people realize.
Copyright 2013 - The Bradenton Herald
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
