Opinions needed

[bluejeans07]

My mother was driving in Koreatown when a police car parked in the lane next to her didn't see her and suddenly opened the door of his car without warning, causing her to drive into it. You'd think that a police officer would be extremely responsible, take her over to the side, and take responsibility. Instead, when my mother asked for the usual (insurance info, etc), he claimed that as an LAPD officer, he was privileged to the entire lane and so this incident was her fault and he'd be charging HER.

Poor Mom's kind of shook up from all this and I've been googling and hunting around the LAPD website. Have you guys heard any info on this sort of thing?

Edit: Thanks for all the info everyone! I passed it all to my mom and got a lot more details.

This police officer is amazing. Not only did he refuse to apologize, he actually CALLED FOR BACK UP. He called over FIVE OTHER OFFICERS. So two other cop cars and one on a motorcycle showed up to deal with one upset and meek 5'2" Korean lady. Jack-off. Don't they have anything better to do? Isn't crime supposed to be on the rise?! Gah!

Anyway, Mom opted to call insurance and let insurance handle it (even insurance was surprised that the dude called 5 other officers for this), but this is pissing me off. I'll probably get the badge info of this jerk and call the District Attorney's office. This is unacceptable.

Comments

[forest-rose.livejournal.com]

Sounds like absolute rubbish to me. I would ask my mum (former police, used to teach traffic law) but I suspect everything's different in the US. Also, she is snoring quietly on the sofa whilst our kitty tries to eat her head. I do know, however, that over here (UK) a woman was prosecuted for causing death by dangerous driving not so long ago, when she opened her door without looking and knocked a motorcyclist into the path of oncoming traffic. Surely it can't be that different?

I hope your mum feels better soon. Whoever's fault it was (and I'm pretty sure it was his), car accidents are horrible and mean people just make everything worse. *hugs you both*