Cops sued re-motorbike chase

(CNS): Two teenagers injured in a motor bike smash following a high speed cop chase are suing the RCIPS for medical expenses and damages after they claim they were forced into a dangerous collision as a result of police negligence. The teens, who were at the time 16 and 15 years old, state that they were repairing the bike, which was why it was not insured, licensed or had a certificate of road worthiness, and they admit the 16 year old driver was not qualified. However, they still claim that PC Phillips who was driving the patrol car at the time was responsible for the smash by Captain’s Bakery on the West Bay Road in the early hours of 16 March 2011 because of his reckless driving.

According to a statement of claim filed with the suit in the Grand Court earlier this month the two teenagers state they were riding the bike on West Bay Road without lights towards George Town. The police car passed the motorbike on the other side of the road but then swung around and chased after it at a high speed in excess of 50 mph. The teen plaintiffs allege that when the cop car caught up to their motor bike he hemmed them in against a Honda Civic and gave then no room to stop or safely pull over and therefore caused the collision in which both boys were injured, one very seriously.

The police press report from the time stated that the people in the car, including a pregnant woman, which was hit by the motor bike were also injured and taken to hospital.

In the suit the teenagers say that PC Phillips failed to turn on his blue lights in good time and drove recklessly at excessive speed to catch up to them. When he did, they say he drove in a manner which then caused the boys to crash, driving into their path and failing to give way, swerving around the road and driving them towards the other car which was slowing down. This they claim, gave the teen motorbike rider and his pillion nowhere to go, “creating a trap behind the Honda Civic and a foreseeable risk of injury” the suit states.

Both boys were injured but the younger of the boys fractured his skull in multiple places among other injuries and was unconscious for several days. As a result, between them the teens are claiming more than $350,000 in medical expenses as well as damages from the RCIPS.