- A 38-year-old off-duty police officer rammed into the back of a car and caused a four-car pile-up.
- The officer immediately admitted fault and received at least three citations.
- Authorities reported no serious injuries as a result of the accident.
Dashcam video from Ohio shows a police officer stopped on a road before he’s hit from behind. It turns out that he wasn’t alone and in fact two other cars behind him were also hit. The entire chain reaction began when an off-duty officer smashed into the rest of the group.
That off-duty officer is Daniel Griffiths, 38, who was piloting a Ford Edge on Fulton Rd. when he allegedly became distracted and hit a 2018 Hyundai Elantra. That sedan then moved forward and hit a Fiat 500X. In turn, the Italian compact car hit a police SUV.
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The resulting scene includes severe damage to the Ford and Hyundai and the Fiat 500 sitting atop the Elantra. The police SUV appears almost undamaged. Clearly, the other vehicles absorbed quite a bit of the impact force from the crash. Every individual in the crash suffered a minor injury or two but all aside from the on-duty officer received care at the scene only.
Notably, Griffiths immediately ran up to the on-duty officer and checked on him. “It was me, I slammed on my brakes, I couldn’t stop,” he says. According to Cleveland 19, he’s now facing three citations including distracted driving, failure to wear a seatbelt, and failure to ensure a clear distance ahead. It’s unclear what these citations mean for his job.
He and another officer did discuss his job and schedule there on site. The two considered if he needed to take leave or if administration would penalize him. At this stage in the game, those factors are still unclear. Most importantly, everyone escaped the wreck without serious injury.
Regardless of what happens regarding his job, kudos to Officer Griffiths for his immediate and forthright admission of responsibility for the accident. Certainly, most would feel embarrassed and upset in his position, but he didn’t compound one bad decision with another by trying to shift the blame elsewhere.