By Romines, Weis & Young
•
13 Aug, 2020
In January 2017, Connie Reesor, age 59, was severely injured in a collision with a Kentucky State Police trooper at an intersection in Elizabethtown. The officer, who was responding to a 911 call, drove through a red light at the intersection without an operational siren and was struck by Mrs. Reesor, who had a green light as she entered the intersection. The collision resulted in both vehicles being totaled and Mrs. Reesor suffering a shattered tibial plateau, for which she had to have a pin and nine plates installed in her knee. The officer’s defense claimed that he acted reasonably in responding to the emergency, while subsequently claiming that Mrs. Reesor should have yielded to him and had failed to keep a proper lookout while entering the intersection. Despite these claims, Romines, Weis, & Young were able to employ expert testimony to prove that the officer’s inappropriate conduct had violated policy and law, and that the emergency at hand did not justify disregarding police practices. The jury unanimously concluded that the officer was solely at fault for the accident and awarded her $1.4 million in damages, including $1 million in punitive damages.