The city of Albany will likely be sued because of that police car crash last month- the wreck victims have a lawyer.
Seven members of the two families were inside a pickup truck that was broadsided by Albany Police Officer Gary Price June 30th.
Price says he looked down and ran through a red light while responding to a call with blue lights on.
Their lawyers say Price should not even have been permitted to operate a police department vehicle.
In 2009, the city and county shucked out more than a half million dollars to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Billy Klewitz.
The 21-year-old Klewitz was killed when he was hit head-on by a suspect Gary Price was chasing.
It's unlikely that city leaders will be caught off guard if they're sued over this crash. Officer Price has wrecked six police cars and been involved in a total of nine crashes.
Few city leaders will talk about it because it's under investigation. For the first time since Gary Price was involved in that wreck last month, we heard from Police Chief John Proctor.
He says city officials were told not to comment on this incident until the investigation is complete.
But Commissioner Ivey Hines said there is obvious concern for citizens' safety.
Since June 30th, when Albany Police Officer Gary Price ran a red light and slammed into a pickup truck, the police department has been investigating. This crash and Price's track record sparked our own investigation, revealing Price had a hand in a total of nine crashes in 13 years.
City Commissioner Ivey Hines says that record is cause for concern. "As the community itself is concerned, you also need to know that the mayor and the city commission are concerned about the series of events that have been brought to light by the last incident," said Hines.
Six times Price crashed APD vehicles. Three other times, suspects he chased crashed into innocent motorists. A total of 11 people have been injured and two were killed. Price has been reprimanded, suspended, transferred and even ticketed for the crashes.
"I think that the citizenry are concerned about the incidents and the threat to their safety is a valid concern that they have," said Hines. "But I'm confident that when this issue is resolved it will place the citizenry, as well as the commissioners at ease as to ensuring that such an occurrence will not happen again within the city."
Many residents are now asking how was Price allowed to patrol the streets for so long?
"It's obvious that it should have been brought to light sooner," said Hines. "And I would say there's no justification that we actually could present to say why it was not brought. Lots of things have occurred, changing in staff, chiefs, city managers and all those kind of things have occurred."
Hines hopes that maybe this recent crash and investigation will lead to new procedures or regulations that will prevent this from happening again.
Gary Price is now on desk duty until the investigation is complete.
The city hasn't given us a time frame for the conclusion of that investigation.
The following letter was sent to WALB by Randy Turner of Turner & Ross, LLC, in Marietta.
We have been retained to represent the Kennard and Nix families and we are actively investigating the circumstances leading up to the collision.
However, based on what we already know, it is clear that the involved police officer should not have been permitted to operate a police department vehicle, which needlessly compromised the public safety, and resulted in the multiple injuries sustained by these minor children and young adults.
Copyright 2012 WALB. All rights reserved.
Commissioner Ivey Hines said there is obvious concern for citizens' safety
Officer Price has wrecked six police cars, and been involved in a total of nine crashes
Price says he looked down and ran through a red light while responding to a call with blue lights on
Seven people were inside a pickup truck that was broadsided by APD Officer Gary Price June 30th
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