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Steve Lombardi, Attorney

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2/26/2011
Steve Lombardi
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Why are officers reluctant to investigate cell phone usage by the drivers when an accident has happened?

A crash occurred in Clarke County on February 22, 2011 - VEHICLE 1 WAS SOUTHBOUND ON I-35, THE DRIVER WAS TALKING ON HER CELL PHONE AND WAS NOT PAYING ATTENTION. THE VEHICLE STARTED TO LEAVE THE ROADWAY TOWARDS THE MEDIAN AND THE SUBJECT OVER CORRECTED AND ROLLED THE VEHICLE THREE TIMES, BEFORE IT CAME TO REST IN THE WEST DITCH.

What you see above is the narrative from Iowa State Trooper Tucker's ISP Crash Report for a single-vehicle accident on February 22, 2011. The accident occurred at 5:34 P.M. in Clarke County on Interstate 35 in Iowa. The events took place in the southbound lane. I-35 in Iowa is a north-south Interstate Highway that connects Minneapolis and Kansas City. The driver of the car was cited for failure to maintain control under Iowa Code section 321.288. Now here is why I find this report so interesting.

I've not seen many reports where the officer discovers a cell phone being the distraction that is the leading or even a contributing cause of the driver losing control and causing an accident. I say this with confidence because I read lots of accident reports and just before this past Christmas I was involved in an accident with a driver who came across the center line and hit me. I wanted to know whether the driver had a cell phone and if he was on it. The officer seemed reluctant to even ask the other driver and didn't demand to see his phone so he and I could investigate.

In my case I told the officer we had three possible reasons why the driver came across the center line as he did.

He's drunk and passed out.
Second, he was using his cell phone, texting and paying no attention to his driving.
Three, he is suicidal and thought driving his little sedan into the front end of a Ford F-350 with an 8 foot plow and the truck bed fully loaded with sand and salt would get the job done.

Why are officers reluctant to investigate cell phone usage by the drivers when an accident has happened?

In this instance I say give Trooper Tucker a commendation!

If you wish to read the entire crash report, follow this link to the Iowa State Patrol site or if it's not working I'll carry on the Lombardi Law Firm site under the I-35/I-80/I-235 accident section.

Crash Information

L O C A T I O N	Date of Accident 2/22/2011	Time of Accident 05:34 PM	County Clarke - 20	Accident occurred within corporate limits of (city)	Law Enforcement Case Number: 2011013045
	Literal Description SB INTERSTATE 35 (MILEPOST 40)				Legal Intervention? No	Private Property? No
					X-Coordinate: 434382.5
					Y-Coordinate 4552604.

U N I T 1	Driver's Name - Last BANGURA			First HAWA			Middle		Suffix
	City DES MOINES			State IA - Iowa, US				Zip 503200000
	Driver's Age 24					Citation Charge Code 1 321.288		Citation Charge 1 FAIL TO MAINTAIN CONTROL
	Gender Female	State IA - Iowa, US	Class C - Non-commercial vehicle or commercial Veh w/26000 GVWR or less & either 16 Pass Design or Hazmat	Endorsements None	Restrictions S - SR Required	Citation Charge Code 2		Citation Charge 2
	Alcohol Test Given? 1 - None			Drug Test Given? 1 - None		Citation Charge Code 3		Citation Charge 3
						Citation Charge Code 4		Citation Charge 4
	Seating Position 01 - Front: Left Side / Motorcycle Driver	Injury Status 4 - Possible	Occupant Protection 2 - Shoulder and lap belt used		Airbag Deployment 3 - Deployed both front/side	Airbag Switch Status 3 - No ON/OFF switch present		Ejection 1 - Not ejected	Ejection Path	Trapped 3 - Extricated by mechanical means
	Transported to: CLARKE COUNTY HOSPITOL					Transported by: CLARKE COUNTY RESCUE
	Insurance Co. Name
	Year 2004		Make Ford - FORD		Model XPL		Style SW		Approximate Cost to Repair or Replace 5000
	Initial Travel Direction 3 - South	Vehicle Action 01 - Movement essentially straight	Speed Limit 70	Point of Initial Impact 07 - Left Side	Most Damaged Area 07 - Left Side	Extent of Damage 5 - Severe, vehicle totaled	Underride/Override 1 - None
	Total Occupants 2	Traffic Controls 01 - No controls present	Vehicle Config. 04 - Sport utility vehicle	Cargo Body Type 01 - Not applicable	Vehicle Defect 01 - None	Driver Condition 1 - Apparently normal	Vision Obscured 01 - Not obscured	Contributing Circumstances, Driver (up to 2)
	SEQUENCE OF EVENTS			First Event 03 - Ran off road, left	Second Event 11 - Overturn/rollover	Third Event	Fourth Event 11 - Overturn/rollover	Most Harmful Event (by vehicle) 11 - Overturn/rollover
	Emergency Vehicle Type 1 - Not applicable					Emergency Status 3 - Not Applicable
	Carrier Name			City		State			Zip
	Number of Axles			Gross Vehicle Weight Rating		Placard #			Hazardous Materials Released?

ACCIDENT ENVIRONMENT		ROADWAY CHARACTERISTICS Major Contributing Circumstances:	WORKZONE RELATED?	SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
Location of First Harmful Event 1 - On Roadway	Weather Conditions (up to two) 02 - Partly cloudy	Environment 1 - None apparent	Location	First Harmful Event of Crash (use codes 11-42 only) 11 - Overturn/rollover
Manner of Crash/Collision 1 - Non-collision	Weather Conditions (up to two) 02 - Partly cloudy	Roadway 01 - None apparent	Type
Light Conditions 1 - Daylight	Surface Conditions 1	Type of Roadway Junction/Feature 01 - No special feature	Workers Present?

P
E
R
S
O
N

I
N
J
U
R
E
D

Name- Last
BANGURA

First
DAVID

Middle

Suffix

City

State

Zip Code

Age
18

Sex
Male

Unit No.
1

Seating Position
04 - Center: Left Side / Motorcycle Passenger

Injury Status
4 - Possible

Occupant Protection
2 - Shoulder and lap belt used

Airbag Deployment
3 - Deployed both front/side

Airbag Switch Status
3 - No ON/OFF switch present

Ejection
1 - Not ejected

Ejection Path
1 - Not ejected/not applicable

Trapped
2 - Freed by non-mechanical means

Transported to:
CLARKE COUNTY HOSPITOL

Transported by:
CLARKE COUNTY RESCUE

NON-MOTORIST

Type

Location

Action

Condition

Safety Equipment

Contributing Circumstances

Unit No. of Vehicle Striking

D
I
A
G
R
A
M

0

NARRATIVE

VEHICLE 1 WAS SOUTHBOUND ON I-35, THE DRIVER WAS TALKING ON HER CELL PHONE AND WAS NOT PAYING ATTENTION. THE VEHICLE STARTED TO LEAVE THE ROADWAY TOWARDS THE MEDIAN AND THE SUBJECT OVER CORRECTED AND ROLLED THE VEHICLE THREE TIMES, BEFORE IT CAME TO REST IN THE WEST DITCH.

Officer TUCKER	Badge No. 487	Time Officer Notified of Accident 17:36	Time Officer Arrived At Scene 17:38
Name of Agency P02	Date of Report 2/22/2011	Investigation made at scene? Yes	T.I. #

Any questions about this report may be directed to the following address:
Iowa State Patrol District 02 Office
1619 Truro Pavement
Osceola,IA 50213-8383
Phone: (641) 342-2108
Fax: (641) 342-4653

Category: Car and Tractor Trailer Accidents

Labels: attorney cell phone collisions death highway I-235 I-35 I-380 I-80 injury Interstate Iowa State Patrol lawyer Lombardi negligence reports safety wrong-way wrong-way collisions

Every Saturday this law firm posts the current Iowa State Patrol fatality and injury report list so our out-of-state clients and potential clients have access to the latest word from the Iowa State Patrol. If you have questions about what the investigating officer's report means, or how to interpret it, give Steve Lombardi a call at 515-222-1110 or send him an email at sdlombardi@aol.com. Here are the injury reports for this past week.

If you follow this link to the Lombardi Law Firm category Interstate 35, I-80, I-235, I-380 Collisions/Accidents you can find most Iowa State Patrol crash reports linked and some, but not all, are analyzed. Look along the left column under The Verdict to see if the date of your accident is shown; if it is simply click on the linked title that should include a date. There are two for every Saturday. One is for fatality reports and the other for injury crash reports. If you or an interested person are in a collision and you would like the crash analyzed you'll need to contact Attorney Lombardi. This may or may not result in an attorney-client relationship and simply asking for a review does not in and of itself create such a relationship. If you ask and Mr. Lombardi thinks you have a case he will say so and provide an agreement for representation that then creates an attorney-client relationship. The bottom line is that Mr. Lombardi has to agree to take you on as a client; the first step of course is asking him. You've got two ways: telephone 515-222-1110 or email sent to sdlombardi@aol.com.