Four have had car accidents this year while running traffic signals in emergency mode. "We can do a better job," said the department's spokesman.
By STEVE THOMPSON
Published December 18, 2005
A young man was shot to death in New Port Richey. Pasco sheriff's dispatchers got word at 6:22 p.m. Monday, and deputies quickly responded.
Nearly an hour later, Detective Gregory Hinnant headed to the scene in an unmarked car to investigate.
As he came to the intersection of Mariner Boulevard and County Line Road, his light was red. So Hinnant flipped on his lights and siren, then proceeded through at about 5 mph, a Pasco sheriff's report says.
The intersection was clear, Hinnant told an investigator afterward, and cars were yielding to him. All except for a Dodge Ram pickup - which slammed into him.
The crash, which didn't cause any serious injuries, makes four times this year that Pasco sheriff's cars responding with lights and sirens have been hit while running traffic signals, officials say.
"It's a figure that has caught the attention of Sheriff (Bob) White and his command staff," agency spokesman Doug Tobin said Thursday.
"I believe that when it comes to going through these intersections in (emergency mode)," he said, "given the fact that we've had four accidents this year, that we can do a better job."
But Tobin said civilian drivers also need to be more prepared to yield as emergency vehicles approach.
"There's really a dual responsibility out there," he said. "And both are crucial, I think, to the safety of everybody on the road."
The Florida Highway Patrol, which investigated all four of the crashes, agrees.
In the first of them, on Jan. 3, the FHP found both the civilian driver and Deputy Kenneth Petrillo at fault.
In the second and third - involving Deputy John Ardolino on Aug. 19 and Deputy Cesar Toldo six days later - the FHP cited the civilian drivers for failing to yield to emergency vehicles.
Hinnant's case still is being investigated, the FHP says.
In most crashes involving law enforcement cars, the FHP turns over investigation results to the agency involved rather than giving officers traffic tickets. That officer's superiors then decide whether discipline is due.
Sheriff's officials still are looking into three of the red-light crashes. Toldo received a letter of reprimand for failing to ensure each lane of traffic yielded before he attempted to cross it.
That, according to one expert, is a common reason for such crashes. Stephen Solomon is an Owego, N.Y., optometrist and a member of New York state's Department of Motor Vehicles medical advisory board. He researches emergency vehicle visibility and cowrote the book Emergency Vehicle Accidents.
Often as several cars in one lane yield, he said, they block the view of an emergency vehicle for cars in another lane.
"Green light says go," he said. "And they do."
For this reason, Solomon said, an emergency vehicle running a traffic signal should treat each lane as a separate intersection.
"You must literally creep through," he said. "You cross one lane, you stop, you clear it. You cross the next lane, you stop, you clear it."
Solomon also said emergency vehicles generally run intersections more often than they should.
Pasco Sheriff's Office policy largely leaves the decision to deputies. Petrillo and Ardolino were speeding toward car chases already in progress. Toldo was on his way to help another deputy pull over a driver who had been trying to get away.
Citing still-open investigations, Tobin declined to comment on whether they decided appropriately to cross the red lights.
Speaking generally, he said: "The deputies are eager, really, to get to the scene to help people. I don't think they're driving through intersections carelessly or without regard to public safety."
Sheriff's officials plan to put a new emphasis on the subject during deputy training. And they are reminding deputies that they need to be careful, Tobin said.
White also is working on another solution. Right now, only about 16 agency vehicles are equipped with "emitters," devices that can turn a red light to green as a deputy approaches. White is asking county officials to buy more with Penny for Pasco money.
All of these, Tobin said, "are things we are looking at to try to see if we can prevent this from happening again."
