Drunk Driver Slams into Rocky Mount Police Cruiser Injuring 2 Officers | Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp

Rocky Mount police had one of their cruisers damaged as well as a couple officers injured as a drunk driver slammed into them. The driver crashed into the policemen late Wednesday after driving through a red light and crashing into a moving police cruiser.

The officers involved were, L. Shane Taylor and Jill Gilbert. They were traveling through the intersection of North Winstead and Hunter Hill roads when Mark Allen Pickering, 42, crashed into the driver side of the police unit with his truck, according to police reports.

All involved in the wreck were taken to Nash General Hospital so they could be treated for multiple injuries sustained in the collision. Pickering was charged with driving while impaired and a red light violation. The N.C. Highway Patrol and Rocky Mount police both investigated the accident.

It should be noted that this was the very same intersection that Rocky Mount Police Officer Alan Silver was killed in April of 2007. Officer Silver was in the process of apprehending a bank robber in a high speed chase when he collided with another vehicle. He died a few days later in the hospital.

Although it appears that the police officers are clearly not at fault, sometimes the roles are reversed and our fine public servants can be the ones responsible for an injury at a crash or collision. For instance, many states restrict any liability for a police officer if they end up hurting or even killing someone involved in an accident that happened in the line of duty such as in a high speed chase.

By enacting these kinds of liability-limiting laws for police and other emergency vehicles, state law makers have decided that the interests of justice are served by granting the police “immunity” from prosecution for injuries that may occur during pursuing fleeing suspects, including innocent bystanders that are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

BM