Alaska Driver Awarded $375K For Crash With Patrol Car
A man whose pickup was smashed by a patrol car driven by an Anchorage, Alaska police officer running red light was awarded $375,000 in damages.
The Anchorage Daily News reported the jury Friday chose not to award $2.5 million in punitive damages sought by Melvin Rush for the 2010 crash.
Rush’s lawyer, Jim Valcarce, says Officer Michael Wisel was looking at his in-car computer when he ran the red light. The attorney argued that jurors should have punished Wisel with a punitive damages award to make sure it didn’t happen again.
He called Wisel’s driving outrageous and reckless and said Wisel received only a verbal reprimand from his police department supervisors.
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