Police Pursuits

The only thing worse than a drunk driver is a drunk driver being chased by the police. While a drunk driver poses obvious risks to the public safety, pursuing the drunk forces the drunk to try to outrun the police by increasing his or her speed.

By chasing the drunk driver, the police have taken a situation that may result in an accident and increased the chances of an accident. Not only have the police increased the chances of an accident, the police have increased the severity of the accident because the police are forcing the drunk to drive faster.

The role of a personal injury attorney is to obtain compensation for the injured person. Yet the injured person is not the only beneficiary of the claim. In the case of police pursuits, the public is the beneficiary as well. All over the country, police departments have been reviewing their policies and training programs regarding high-speed pursuits. The reason why the police are becoming accountable for their actions is because they are being held accountable for their actions by attorneys representing the innocent bystanders who were injured.

Making A Difference

It is my honor to represent injured Alaskans to recover compensation for injuries inflicted by a negligent party. Many of my clients suffer permanent disabling and painful injuries. No one understands the impact that chronic pain or other disabling injuries imposes upon an injured person. Even the people closest to the injured person are unable to understand what that person truly suffers.

Fortunately the medical field has advanced enough in the past few decades to offer some relief to chronic pain patients but at a great financial expense. When I prosecute a claim on the behalf of a seriously injured person, the goal is to obtain money to compensate for lost wages, medical bills, life care costs, and pain and suffering.

There is often a side-benefit that results from the claim: The negligent party becomes responsible for his or her behavior. Whether it is a hospital, the State of Alaska or a police department, the defendant is made aware of the breakdown in its systems which resulted in injury to my client. It is comforting to myself and to my clients that our efforts have led to the defendant's adoption of different policies, better screening of employees and increased training which will prevent other people from being injured in the future.