A 74-year-old woman is stable condition after a police officer hit her with one of the department’s three-wheel scooters as she crossed Surf Avenue on Jan. 25.
The scooter driver was turning right from W. 8th onto Surf Avenue at 3:58 pm when he hit the woman, who was crossing Surf Avenue toward the water within the crosswalk, police said. The officer had a green light, and the pedestrian had a walk signal, officials said.
The victim sustained minor injuries, and paramedics took her to Lutheran Medical Center in stable condition, police said.
The officer was on duty at the time, and police are investigating, a department spokesman said. Police couldn’t say whether the officer was responding to a crime when the incident went down.
Pedestrians are more likely to be hit by a police department vehicle than any other city-owned automobile, a 2014 report from Comptroller Scott Stringer found.
Of the 145 claims pedestrians filed against the city in 2015, 56 were against the police department, the study shows. Police vehicles account for one-third of the city’s 28,000-car fleet.
