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STREET TALK
December 12, 2007
Cop Hits Cyclist, Who Gets Billed for Damages
by Chris Dovi
Schwinn bicycle: $400. Embarrassment saved by not wearing spandex cycling suit: priceless. Calculated cost to clean bits of the injured Kristin Stokes off the shattered windshield of a moving car: $10.
Its been five months since Stokes recovered from a traumatic brain injury, but shes still adding up the cost of her unlucky Friday the 13th encounter in July with the fender and windshield of a Richmond Police Department cruiser.
In October, the city sent her a bill for repairs to the police car, adding insult to her potentially life-threatening injury. In addition to bills from three days in intensive care, Stokes faces $2,757.23 in repairs to the patrol cruiser, including $10 for hazardous waste disposal (Me, Stokes says).
Just one cop car is all Im responsible for that and my brain damage, says a frustrated Stokes, struggling to comprehend why shed be charged for repairs to the 5,000-pound car that clearly outmatched her.
The accident happened at the intersection of Jahnke Road and Forest Hill Avenue, when Stokes and her boyfriend, Jay Van Story, were riding their bicycles eastbound across Jahnke on a green light.
After pausing at the slim median, Stokes was unaware that shed be crossing the remaining three lanes of traffic on a yellow light. It turned red as she entered the final lane, she says, the same time as RPD car 2202, driven by Officer William McKay, entered the well-timed light at about 40 miles an hour, according to a police report.
Stokes hit the cars left fender. Propelled partly onto the hood of the car, her head hit the left corner of the windshield, where the impact created a salad bowl-sized crater. Her body rolled across the side of the car, damaging its side mirror, side-mounted search light, paint job and two vertebrae in her back.
Amazingly, Stokes recovered quickly after the brain swelling subsided, and so far she has no lasting ill effects from the wreck. None but the bill, which Stokes first thought was a mistake, from the citys claims administrator.
I thought when they found out I wasnt driving a car, theyd change their thinking, she says, recounting a call to the city trying to clear up the mess. Thats when [the claims administrator] said theyd be looking to collect from [me] personally.
In a second letter, sent Nov. 20, the city demands payment in 30 days, threatening to suspend her license. I wasnt even driving a car, Stokes asks, why would my license come into question?
Richmond Police spokeswoman Cynthia Price says that the collections process is not handled by police and that shes uncertain of collection procedures for damages to city cars. Even though Stokes wasnt cited in the accident, Price says she can be held liable for damages if the department determines that she failed to observe proper traffic patterns while attempting to cross Forest Hill Avenue.
Stokes, a marketing director for a local nonprofit, says shes simply trying to rebuild from this [accident]. This bill, to me, is really preposterous. Its really in general just hurtful. S
WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
discuss
STREET TALK
December 12, 2007
Cop Hits Cyclist, Who Gets Billed for Damages
by Chris Dovi
Schwinn bicycle: $400. Embarrassment saved by not wearing spandex cycling suit: priceless. Calculated cost to clean bits of the injured Kristin Stokes off the shattered windshield of a moving car: $10.
Its been five months since Stokes recovered from a traumatic brain injury, but shes still adding up the cost of her unlucky Friday the 13th encounter in July with the fender and windshield of a Richmond Police Department cruiser.
In October, the city sent her a bill for repairs to the police car, adding insult to her potentially life-threatening injury. In addition to bills from three days in intensive care, Stokes faces $2,757.23 in repairs to the patrol cruiser, including $10 for hazardous waste disposal (Me, Stokes says).
Just one cop car is all Im responsible for that and my brain damage, says a frustrated Stokes, struggling to comprehend why shed be charged for repairs to the 5,000-pound car that clearly outmatched her.
The accident happened at the intersection of Jahnke Road and Forest Hill Avenue, when Stokes and her boyfriend, Jay Van Story, were riding their bicycles eastbound across Jahnke on a green light.
After pausing at the slim median, Stokes was unaware that shed be crossing the remaining three lanes of traffic on a yellow light. It turned red as she entered the final lane, she says, the same time as RPD car 2202, driven by Officer William McKay, entered the well-timed light at about 40 miles an hour, according to a police report.
Stokes hit the cars left fender. Propelled partly onto the hood of the car, her head hit the left corner of the windshield, where the impact created a salad bowl-sized crater. Her body rolled across the side of the car, damaging its side mirror, side-mounted search light, paint job and two vertebrae in her back.
Amazingly, Stokes recovered quickly after the brain swelling subsided, and so far she has no lasting ill effects from the wreck. None but the bill, which Stokes first thought was a mistake, from the citys claims administrator.
I thought when they found out I wasnt driving a car, theyd change their thinking, she says, recounting a call to the city trying to clear up the mess. Thats when [the claims administrator] said theyd be looking to collect from [me] personally.
In a second letter, sent Nov. 20, the city demands payment in 30 days, threatening to suspend her license. I wasnt even driving a car, Stokes asks, why would my license come into question?
Richmond Police spokeswoman Cynthia Price says that the collections process is not handled by police and that shes uncertain of collection procedures for damages to city cars. Even though Stokes wasnt cited in the accident, Price says she can be held liable for damages if the department determines that she failed to observe proper traffic patterns while attempting to cross Forest Hill Avenue.
Stokes, a marketing director for a local nonprofit, says shes simply trying to rebuild from this [accident]. This bill, to me, is really preposterous. Its really in general just hurtful. S
WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
discuss