I was operating a motor vehicle on a municiple highway in…

The accident happened in Ontario, Canada. I was driving an unmarked police car travelling east on a city highway where the posted speed limit is 60 km/hr. It was a nice clear day and there was no one in my lane and no one in the lane beside me. I was heading back to the police station when a truck pulled out from the left, where an independant witness told the investigating officer that he had been watching the truck to see what it was going to do as it was not normal for a vehicle to stop in that location. The witness was stopped at the next intersection to the east, the witness was facing west and had a clear view of the truck. The witness advised that the truck started from a stopped position and proceeded to change lanes without signally or picking up any speed and as I came thru the intersection 3 car lengths before the beginning of the left hand turn lane, the witness says that I didnt have a chance. The truck did not signal to indicate it was wanting to come into the thru lane and it did not wait for me to pass to change lanes, it just crossed the dotted line. I braked as hard as I could and swerved to the left as I didnt know if anyone was coming behind me on the right. The right hand side of my car caught the left hand corner of the truck as I almost made it. The passenger of the truck stated they were lost and he was high. The driver ran to the donut shop bathroom. The passenger said to shit his pants for hitting a cop. The passenger was very stoned and there was maijuana used and unused joints in the driver's door, on the cab seat as well as hashish in foil and hash oil in a vile and oxycontin prescription spilled on the seat. There was not enough time to get a warrant for the impaired driving so the investigating officer charged the other driver and passenger with the criminal offence of Possession of Narcotics and they were convicted. The witness did not stop at the scene at the time of the accident as he was a professional and was delivering items but he returned to the scene 20 minutes later and provided a verbal statement and contact information so that the officer could come take a formal statement when he had time. As it was summer and alot of people on holidays no one ever took a statement from me. I was off work injured and eventually worked lite duties while going for physio, chiro and massage, however, none of knew that I had contracted Fibromyalgia from the bang to the head. It took several months for doctors to figure it out as my body did not heal and the treatments would knock me out with what felt like the flu for a week at a time. Every time I tried to have a light workout. I was extremely fatigued and awoke in the morning with unrefreshed sleep. Feeling like I had got hit by a truck. It has now been 6 years and we are approaching trial as the Fibro became debilitating and I am on long term disability and a few years from retirement. The medical proves I have Fibro but as the officer did not charge the other driver with driving infraction we have to go to trial. We all know that the accident would not have occurred if the truck did not change lanes not in safety. If he had of waited for me to pass and then changed lanes or accelerated and signalled and waited for me to acknowledge him and slow down so he could cut in front of me or wait for me to go by and then change lanes, none of this would of happened. It is likely he was also impaired and that he washed his face with cold water in the bathroom. They were construction workers and it was 11am on a monday morning. They were lost the passenger says. I have never seen anyone pull over to the left, at the beginning of a median, in the middle of a 4 lane highway. He had lots of time to pull over to the right and stop where most people stop or pull into the plaza on the right. That is what caught me off guard as I had been driving on this road for 5 km and the entire time, there was no one in front of me, no one beside me and I had a clear view in the lane in front of me as I approached the intersection on a green light before where the truck came into play. There was no reason for the truck to be stopped there as I came thru the intersection I could see that the two lanes in front of me were vacant and the right turn lane was busy as cars were pulling out of the plaza on the right into the right hand turn lane ahead to my right but there was no one in my lane or the lane to the left except for this truck. He had no reason to stop where he was as there was no one in front of him. It was very odd. The Witness advised that as the truck pulled in front of the car the back of the truck went up in the air and he knew someone must be hurt. So he returned as soon as he could.I am looking for case law or any info that will help my case.

Thank you - how long do you think it will be until I hear from someone?Thank you. I look forward to hearing from an expert in the province of ontario highway traffic act law. I had submitted once in the winter and never heard back, so I appreciate someone responding since it is not free. I am grateful for you expert advice.

Hi Jim - Thank You so much. I appreciate your assistance. Neither of us were charged with HTA Offences. Their was an independant witness that proved the accident happened the way I said. It turns out the witness is a retired police officer from a northern ontario police service. He cooberates what I said. The bad guy was stopped at the beginning of a long left turn lane. As I came thru the intersection approaching the beginning of the left hand turn lane the truck made an unexpected quick lane change with no signal no warning. It was a MANUAL TRASMISSION the witness and I feel that the driving stepped on the gas hard in first and jolted quickly from his lane to mine. There were 2 eastbound lanes (thru lanes) I was in lane 1. As soon as I saw the truck moving into my lane I braked hard, really hard and swerved left in hopes he would accelerate so I could avoid colliding. The witness says I didnt have a chance. The back end of truck went up as the truck was coming into my lane. AGAIN there was NO REASON for this truck to stop or be going slow or change lanes as there was no traffic in front of him from his location all the way to the intersection. When the witnesses light turned green, the accident happened and he turned left and finished his deliveries and then came back after I was gone to hospital. My lawyer has sent a private investigator to get an upto date statement and he stands true to what he said before. he has a good memory and is a great witness. The latest news is the insurance adjuster representing the bad guy tried to coerse the witness into signing a statement written by him. He had the witness come to the bad guys lawyers officer or insurance office (he thought he had been called to go to my lawyers office) when he realized what was going on he was very angry and called my lawyer. Now the insurance adjuster has just made himself a witness. He was trying to get the witness to say that the truck was moving slowly and that there was no reason why I couldnt of seen him change lanes and stop. A jury is really gonna be impressed. The driver appears high even when he is sober and the passenger is a mess. They are both lying saying they were in the thru lane the whole time and were never in the passenger lane. They have no recollection what they were doing or where they were going and no idea why they were going so slow if no one was in front of them. What a mess. (Just because I hit him in the left rear bumper with my right front corner so the adjuster for the bad guy is saying that it is my fault (no grey area) however I have found lots of cases where people have changed lanes last minute and caused accidents and been charged for change lanes not in safety and start from stopped position not in safety. My life has been turned upside down. I can no longer do what I loved and I suffer from debilitating pain and fatigue, I would do anything to work. My husband is a swat team trainer, very fit, young, this is the last thing we needed. I was an amazing police officer, very fair, common sense. I just need an independant 2nd opinion, to make sure I am on the right wave length. My lawyer says we will win hands down that the bad guys lawyer has been trying to get the adjuster to wake up and smell the coffee but for some reason he is stuck on taking me to court. He has never taken a case to court but for some reason he and his senior partners are stuck on this being a rear end collision. It was a beautiful day 11am we have PHOTOS of the scene blown up and the jury will see the DRUGS all over the cab of the TRUCK inthe drivers door on his seat and they were convicted of the criminal offence of possession. Alot of times if criminal charge is laid, it is summer, short staffed no time to get a blood warrant for impaired by drugs so went with possession. They went to HTA Crown trying to decide if they should charge bad guy with change lanes not in safety and/or me careless driving cause hit from behind and crown just said that there was no need to waist taxpayers dollars if they were already charged with possession. Since Fibromyalgia takes a 1.5 years at minimum to diagnose, they had no idea and either did I. No one took a statement from me, I was waiting. This happened on June 17 2009 and it wasn't until November 2009 that the inspector called me in to ask if there was anything I could of done to avoid the accident and I said no. He said, well good news, there was an independant witness who provided a statement , he saw the whole thing and said the bad guy was in the left turn lane acting suspiciously appeared to be stopped for no reason with no cars in front of him and all of sudden changed lanes very quickly into your lane and you hit him immediately as there was no warning, no signal, who does that. My lawyer has a engineering report stating that the accident happened the way the witness and I say and that it could not of happened the way the bad guy said. There was no reason for him to be driving the way

Hi Jim,Thank you very much for you detailed response. I appreciate it very much. I am going to stick with my gut feeling and proceed to pre tria; and then trial. I am tired of beomg bullied by this insurance adjuster. I would like to see how they would feel if the rolls were reversed which they tried to say they were compassionate about which is why they would offer me 250,000 to go away. It has already been 6 years, I will be 47 on Sept 1 and do not retire with omers unreduced pension until 2023 which is 8 years. I had planed on retiring in 2023 and would continue as a realtor til my husband retired as he is 5 years younger.With no known cure, I have to take care of myself for a very long time. My eldest is about to start Queens Engineering so I am very thankful that I invested in RESP. He also got a bursary for his marks. So we have enough to get thru year 1 and part of year 2.I have always planned on paying my son's education in full. My lawyer and I are on the same page and both believe that when this is all laid out in a court of law in front of a jury, they too will feel that the accident would not of happened unless the bad buys were driving properly, with due care and attention to other motor vehicles, includein me in a thru lane in a 60km/hr zone.They could not explain why they say they were only going 5 to 10 km/hr. you and I know it is very difficult to drive at that speed . In any event, I am so grateful for the independant witness returning to the scene. I will be forever grateful for him, ny lawyer, god and you. I appreciate this very much.Even if I end up with nothing, I feel I have to stick to my gut and go to court, for a group of jurors to make the decision.I know what I would do if I was a juror and saw the drugs all over the drivers seat, and heard that they were lost, and have no explanation as to why they say they were going so slow but deny the fact they were stopped at the beginning of the ledt hand turn lane, and hear both the independant witness and I say the same thing, both being very respectful. The driver running to starbucks instead of staying at the scene. There was an OVERT volunteer that came upon the scene but didnt see it. He stayed with me until the ambulance took me away as you know how police are when in an accident, we do everything we can to be in control and say we are fine, thankfully the overt guy knew that I was not fine. My life was perfect before this accident, I didnt have time to be injured, so I pushed thru as much as I could until I was stopped due to my health.Once again, thank you, ***** ***** in me and agreeing that when this is all laid out I should be fine. I think the other side is just trying to see how far I will discount my settlement to settle out of court, by using their tactics and saying they will destroy me as it was a rear end colission, even though they have never had a case like this and the adjuster has never gone to court and my lawyer of 32 years has and advises as soon as the jury sees drugs in a vehicle their eyes glaze over and they are ready to settle right there.Lets hope for the best,
Katherine

I just wanted to share one more thing - the bad guys lawyer and adjuster keep questioning me on why i braked and swerved left. I explained that it was part of my training and because my mind reacts fast as they were coming from the left if I braked and swerved left, they would be on an angle and it was my best chance of avoiding a collision with the truck. If I had of gone right, I could of potentially cut off another car coming from behind in the lane next to me as I knew there was no one in front of me in either lane but I didnt have time to do a shoulder check before reacting to the truck's crazy choice to cut in front of me.You are correct, 2009 was just before the new legislation came out to help us obtain urine samples from suspected impaired by drugs drivers. It was 2010 or 2011 before I heard about that and had wished it was a tool offered to police in 2009 as it definately would of been helpful for the investigators.Your career as a police officer, your experience has certainly been the right calling for you now to be a lawyer. I appreciate your expert advise. I will keep this email and let you know what happens in court. You have helped me remain positive and not doubt myself as the system itself is frustrating.Katherine

Hi Jim,You mentioned WSIB. When you are in an accident, on the job, and are injured, 30 days after the accident you get correspondence in the mail from WSIB giving you so many days to elect WSIB vs 3rd Party Insurance. As I thought I would recover within 6 months, I checked the box WSIB. Mistake # ***** They took care of my time off for the 1st 6 months, then I went to their wsib doctors. The doctor advised I had a permanent impairment and it would never get better. He was referring to my neck C2 to C3 protruding disc and something in my left shoulder from the MRI - I cant think of it right now. He said all I could do is get a Tens Machine, continue massage therapy and chiro and get a over the door traction device. He said he would arrange for another MRI of the Brain I think. This was Dec 2009. Jan & Feb past and still no appointment for MRI. I stopped by his office and asked why the appt had not been made, so they quickly arranged for one in March. I was off work dealing with the symptoms mentioned but WSIB was not reimbursing my sick bank. I went to a specialist and they referred me to Warm Water Aquatic and the Bone Scan and that is when the Nurse dropped the needle and I got the staph infection. That was the 1 year mark but WSIB had stopped helping and just interfering and going against what my doctor said and forcing me back to work. Oh yah, I actually did go back to work 2 weeks before the bone scan and dealt with the WSIB Nurse who of course arranged for a better chair and adjust your work station and started physio again. The only reason I got the staph infection is because I was going for investigative procedures to see why I was in so much pain and debilitating fatigue and memory issues after the accident. WSIB again did not take responsibility and I was laid up over 3 months with the staph infection and when the wounds healed up and the infectious disease doctor said I was clear, I was still suffering from the debilitating pain and fatigue. Luckily, when I joined the police department the police association had started a Central Leave Sick Bank so when my sick time ran out, the police association had a meeting and the board agreed to give me the funds to help me get to the required date in Dec 2010 to go on Great West Life Long Term Disability. That lasted for 2 years. Then GWL advises that you can go back to work, even though I was then diagnosed with Fibromyalgia March 2011. In January 2011, I went to the Shores Health & Fitness and hired a personal trainer, massage therapist and in house chiropractor to try once again to get strong enough to return to work. The owner of the The Shores Health and Fitness said, Katherine Denton, I remember you, I was on the Harwood Avenue bridge when you rammed the murderer into the guard rail over the 401, he was in a stolen car and you had him at gun point all by yourself. She said, I had a car full of women and I stepped on it and got out of there. She says, I know you dad, I lived on the same street as him. She said, what brings you here. I explained everything to her. She said, well it sounds to me that you need a lawyer. She had worked at Durham Reporting as a court reporter for several years and she said she knew the best lawyer in Durham Region and would be happy to make a call to his secretary for me. She said, he is very busy and last she heard he wasnt taking on new clients but she was sure he would take mine and I am so glad he did. My lawyer is Dan Balena in Ajax and he is very experienced. He was able to overturn the original election of WSIB 1 month after the accident and allow me to deelect wsib and reelect 3rd party insurance. It was not without opposition but he was supported by the drp association president and eventually convinced the chief of police that they better allow it. I had to sign papers that I would pay the department back for any monies I received from WSIB, which was approx $16,000 to $20,000. So I did that and the other condition was that I would retire at the point when I had reached an unreduced pension. All of which were agreeable to me. One of the insurers to do with the medical sent us to a tribunal saying I didnt have the right to sue as the police are schedule 1 employers. When we get our paycheque when we are off on WSIB, wsib doesnt give the police 5 cents. That is why our HR department does everything they can to force us back to work, even if our doctor is against it. They don't care. My lawyer did not back down to the police departments lawyers who were advising the chief ( actually it was acting deputy chief Stan McLellan who has never been a police officer on the road and is a civilian. He is now the deputy chief) He is all about HR and saving department money and hates police officers. It was no easy task but my lawyer was successful and the DRPA President Mike Glennie was also excellent. That was the 1st big hurdle. We have had success with everything since. CPP Approved Disability and other insurers followed.The tort claim is the last hurdle. I am also grateful that OMERS has been contributing my annual dues to my pension so my pension will be the same as if I had been at work when I retire in 2023. I have had an Omers medical each year since 2011. I am grateful to them as well. If for some reason, the Tort Claim backfired, I could apply for a reduced Omers Disability Pension right now and they would pay approx $3500 a month less income tax. CPP is $1499 which is also Taxable. If I were to accept OMERS Disabilty Pension then I would lose the CPP payment until I am 65. I dont know if I would lose all of it or not. I need to call them to find out. I am just now trying to get answers to all the unknowns, so I know what options are offered to me, depending on the outcome of the trial.It has been very nice corresponding with you. I am forever grateful. I wish you continued success and many sunshine filled days.Cheers,Katherine