Anyone can be in an accident at any time. It doesn’t matter what you do for a living, how much experience you have around safety, or even how careful you are. Even law enforcement officers and officials that are here to protect and to serve us can find themselves in an accident when they least expect it.
ABC News in Los Angeles reported that such an accident happened at approximately 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday in Inglewood involving a Los Angeles Police Department officer on a motorcycle and an SUV being driven by the Mayor of Inglewood, James Butts.
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The crash happened near the University of Southern California campus. The LAPD motor officer was stopped on his motorcycle just in front of the fountain when the violent accident occurred. Surveillance video obtained by KABC caught the incident when a black SUV being driven by Mayor Butts disobeyed a traffic signal and turned in front of another oncoming vehicle. The force of the impact sent Butts’ SUV spinning straight into the LAPD officer. The motorcycle and the officer were sent airborne into the fountain.
Investigators say that because the motor officer was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, it probably saved his life. Bruce Thomas, a law enforcement expert, said that the helmets are designed to absorb trauma producing impacts such as this one. “You may suffer broken bones, but the most serious part of any person’s body is the head and the brain,” Thomas said.
Authorities have not released the identity of the injured officer. They did say, however, that he was a long time veteran motor officer and he suffered significant injuries. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Mayor Butts was himself a longtime motorcycle officer with the Inglewood Police Department before becoming the city’s Police Chief and later its mayor. Mayor Butts is grateful that the officer is expected to be ok. He stayed at the scene of the crash during the investigation.
So far no charges have been filed.
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