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Lawsuit seeks damages for 2012 crash with Niles Police cruiser
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Two women from Youngstown and a man from Girard have filed a lawsuit in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court against a Niles patrolman and the city of Niles because of a traffic accident two years ago.
Ashley Gray and Phillip Faunda of Youngstown and Patricia Gaul of Girard filed the suit over an Oct. 25, 2012, accident on U.S. Route 422 near state Route 46 in Niles.
The suit says Gray was in the left westbound lane of Route 422 and approaching the back of a Niles police cruiser operated by Patrolamn Thomas Townley Jr., which was westbound in the curb lane.
Townley “suddenly and unexpectedly made a U-turn into [Gray’s] path, causing a collision between the vehicles,” the suit says.
The suit says Townley’s actions were negligent, and he is liable for the damage that resulted — injuries to Gray, including a bitten tongue and a contusion to her ribs and medical expenses.
Gaul, her front-seat passenger, also suffered injuries — abrasions to her neck and abdomen and medical expenses.
Faunda, owner of the car, experienced a loss of $2,500 as a result of damage to his car, the suit said.
All three allege negligence or willful or wanton misconduct on Townley’s part and seek at least $25,000 each.
Terrance Dull, Niles law director, said he had no comment on the lawsuit because he has little information so far on the matter.
Capt. John Marshall of the Niles Police Department investigated the crash and filed an accident report.
It said the accident occurred at 11:16 p.m. Oct. 25 and that Townley had activated his emergency lights before making a U-turn in order to assist another officer nearby who was investigating an accident in the eastbound lanes.
Townley was stopped “waiting for eastbound traffic to clear” so he could get to the other side of the road to assist the other officer, who was investigating a single-car accident involving a car and a deer, the report said.
“After eastbound traffic cleared, [Townley] advised he checked for westbound traffic and began to turn the car around. About two-thirds of the way through the turn, while traveling 6 mph, [he] was struck” by Gray’s car in the center turn lane of Route 422.
“Emergency lights were active on both police vehicles present,” the report says.
The accident was captured on the police car’s dash-cam video, and it shows no indication that Gray used her brakes until after the crash began, the report said.
Gray and Gaul were checked by ambulance personnel and refused medical attention. Townley had a contusion on his left temple, complained of nausea and dizziness and was transported to a hospital by ambulance.
The report identifies “driver inattention” on the part of Gray as a “contributing circumstance” that caused the accident. It lists no contributing circumstances attributable to Townley.
No citations were written for Gray or Townley, according to records from Niles Municipal Court.
Rob Hinton, Niles police chief, said his department’s policy is that officer-involved crashes that do not involve serious physical injury are investigated by departmental supervisors. More-serious crashes are referred to another agency.