Cruisers to get devices on gas tanks

An Austintown officer remains in a medically induced coma.

THE VINDICATOR

By JEANNE STARMACK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

AUSTINTOWN — The township police department will get fire suppression devices for the gas tanks of all the Crown Victorias in its 12-car fleet.

The decision to do so follows the severe burning earlier this month of a township police officer after his cruiser was slammed from behind and the gas tank exploded, sending a wall of flames into the front of the car.

Police Chief Bob Gavalier said Wednesday the devices, which are polymer shells that fit over the gas tank and release a cloud of fire suppressant powder after a cruiser is rear-ended, should be delivered soon.

He said the devices can be removed and used again as the department rotates old cruisers out of the fleet. They cost $395 each.

Officer Ross Linert, 48, remains in the burn unit at Akron Children’s Hospital where he’s been since the Nov. 11 crash on North Meridian Road.

He is still in a medically-induced coma and on a ventilator, Gavalier said. He has had several surgeries to graft skin over burns that cover about 40 percent of his body.

Linert is by no means the only police officer severely burned after a Crown Victoria Police Interceptor was hit from behind. At least 30 officers throughout the country have burned to death in the cars over the years, and hundreds more civilians have died in not only Crown Vics but in Lincoln Town Cars and Grand Marquis, says the Center for Auto Safety in Washington, D.C.

Ford Motor Co.’s Panther line of cars is dangerous, critics say, because the gas tank is behind the rear axle and in the car’s “crush zone.”

But after studying the cars, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determined in 2002 that the Crown Vic met safety standards.

Ford installed a shield on the gas tank in 2002 to keep it from being punctured during a rear-end crash, and Linert’s car had one of those shields, Gavalier has said.

He is still waiting on the Ohio State Highway Patrol to finish an accident reconstruction to determine how fast the car that hit Linert’s cruiser was going. He said the OSHP also will try to determine why the gas tank ruptured.

He said that despite the debate over the safety of the Crown Vic, the department will likely keep buying them.

He said the car gets a five-star safety rating, and his officers have indicated they like the car because it’s roomy.

There are also not a lot of choices out there in police-car packages.

Dodge Chargers, Ford Explorers, Chevrolet Impalas and Chevrolet Tahoes are the only others available.

The OSHP’s troopers union and the state also recently agreed to use the same fire-suppression device on OSHP’s Crown Vics that Austintown is getting.

starmack@vindy.com