Peculiar, MO — A rather shocking video was uploaded to YouTube this week by a cyclist wearing a helmet camera who filmed a distracted police officer ram him head on as he waited at a stop sign. Officer Wallace with the Peculiar police department was looking down at his phone while turning left and never saw Joe Fas sitting there on his bicycle.
As Fas sat at the stop sign, waiting to turn, his helmet camera showed him looking right and then looking left. All of the sudden, officer Wallace, driving his police SUV, marked unit 396, turns left—into the wrong lane—and slams into Fas who couldn’t get out of the way fast enough.
“Whoa! Whoa!” Fas screamed as officer Wallace looked down at his phone, clearly not paying attention to where he was going.
“You mother….motherf**ker, you were looking at your phone, officer,” says Fas as he gets to his feet.
Wallace opens his door and immediately gives the excuse that he was “f**king looking at a text from another officer,” as if this makes plowing over an innocent bicyclist acceptable.
“396,” Fas says, recording to officer’s unit number. He then looks down at his Scott bike which appears to be twisted and broken.
“Why were you texting?” Fas asks the officer as he approaches him.
“I wasn’t texting, I was looking at my phone,” replies Wallace.
“Either way,” Fas retorts.
Wallace then does something police officers rarely do — he admitted he was in the wrong.
“I know, it was my bad,” said Wallace.
“Why were you doing that in a turn?” asked Fas.
“I wasn’t paying attention,” Wallace replies.
The two then assess Fas’ injuries and note the damage to the bicycle, saying, “the frame is cracked.”
Fas then explained that Wallace made the decision to call in the Missouri state police to investigate as there would’ve been a conflict of interest if he filed his own report.
According to Fas, troopers Green and Fuce showed up and filed the report and he refused the trip to the ER because he said he wasn’t that hurt. However, Fas says that the next day he was in much more pain.
As far as what happened to officer Wallace, Fas explained that he did not know. He did say that Wallace was given a breathalyzer by the state police as well as a urinalysis to see if he was under the influence of any drugs or alcohol.
Whether or not Wallace received a traffic citation of any kind is a mystery as Fas was not informed of the outcome.
In the state of Missouri, according to state law, “Text messaging and using a hand-held mobile device while operating a motor vehicle” is prohibited except as otherwise noted.
One of those exceptions is for “authorized emergency vehicles.”
The Free Thought Project reached out the the Peculiar Police Department to inquire about the punishment, if any, that officer Wallace received or will receive. However, we have yet to hear back from them.
Officer Wallace certainly handled this incident better than the last story TFTP covered in which officers were seen plowing into a cyclist.
Heins Rodriguez, 26, was minding his own business as he rode his bicycle down 43rd Avenue in August of 2015, when an unmarked police cruiser came out of nowhere causing him to go flying off of his bike.
#8. To: misterwhite, A KA Stone, GrandIsland, Deckard, Everybody (#6)
Gatlin: The cyclist will be lucky if he doesn’t get a ticket. Deckard: WTF?
Say, anyone – I am an old man with very terrible eyesight, cornea transplant and all that other stuff, so I need help here.
Please watch the video again and confirm that the cyclist did indeed make NO attempt to stop at that STOP sign and did in fact RUN that STOP sign.
Then please try tell me how many feet (yards) the cyclist was past those white marks designating the STOP POINT into the intersection before he got into the way of that nice police officer’s vehicle that was making a left turn….by being too far out into the intersection. The intersection does start past those white marks designating the STOP point.
I watched the video again. The officer was clearly negligent. He clearly made his turn too sharp, and crossed into the lane that the cyclist was on, instead of turning into the proper lane, to the left of the lane the cyclist was on. That and the fact that the officer readily admitted he was at fault. If a civilian had done this, then they would have deserved a ticket. A judge would most likely determine that the officer did not have proper control of his vehicle.
There is no way the cyclist deserves a ticket. I would predict that if the cyclist employs an attorney, and sues,he will win his case.
I watched the video again. The officer was clearly negligent.
He clearly made his turn too sharp, and crossed into the lane that the cyclist was on, instead of turning into the proper lane, to the left of the lane the cyclist was on. That and the fact that the officer readily admitted he was at fault. If a civilian had done this, then they would have deserved a ticket. A judge would most likely determine that the officer did not have proper control of his vehicle.
There is no way the cyclist deserves a ticket. I would predict that if the cyclist employs an attorney, and sues,he will win his case.
YUP >>>
We have admission by the cop. He cut the corner way too sharp. Wasn't watchful and is guilty of careless driving.
Under NO "LAW" can either a Cop or civilian ANY license to slam into a pedestrian or another vehicle. Technicality or no technicality. As flimsy as that might be.
Only the most statist, partial, unfair observer would not concede the above.
We have admission by the cop. He cut the corner way too sharp. Wasn't watchful and is guilty of careless driving.
That is absolutely CORRECT and no one ever said otherwise.
After watching the video, all I EVER said was the cyclist did NOT stop at the stop sign. He rolled through the stop sign and stopped in the intersection. The intersection began past the white marks at the stop sign.
Sgt. Collin Stosberg of the Missouri Highway Patrol, confirmed that while the investigation is still underway….the cyclist was pulled up “past the stop sign” and contributed to the accident.
Under NO "LAW" can either a Cop or civilian ANY license to slam into a pedestrian or another vehicle. Technicality or no technicality. As flimsy as that might be.
Of course not.
Again, it was Sgt. Stosberg’s CONCLUSION that the cyclist was pulled up “past the stop sign” and contributed to the accident. There is NO technicality. That is hard evidence from the cyclist’s video.
Learn to live with Sgt. Stosberg’s CONCLUSION because there is absolutely nothing else you can do except continue to espouse your personal OPINION which will not affect the outcome of the official investigation in any way whatsoever.
