I Lost The Court Case Today

Today has been quite upsetting. Maybe I got my hopes up believing that the court would rule in favor of the truth, but unfortunately I was wrong. In case you’re reading this at a later date, the date today is June 24, 2015. I’m going to start at the beginning.

It was Wednesday, April 29, 2015. I show up to work as usual. I’m a part-time FedEx Ground driver who delivers and picks up packages in Phoenix Arizona. As I’m driving westbound on Washington street passing the underpass of the I-10, an ADOT truck appears in front of me heading southbound. He had just gotten off the off-ramp from the highway traveling at a high rate of speed, the specifics of which is unknown to me.

I tried to stop and swerve right to avoid a collision, but it was too late. I crashed into the truck just behind the drivers door in T-bone fashion. Here is a video I shot one day after the accident. At the time, I only knew the details of my experience. It wasn’t until later that I learned how my truck ended up on its side. I will explain that after the video. Also, I was looking forward to the Mayweather Pacquiao fight at the time, which is why I gave the video that name. Small part of my sense of humor.

I was so sure I had the green light and I still am.

I find out days later from a witness, that my truck actually lifted vertically into the air, back side up, and my front bumper was above the ground a good 4 or 5 feet before crashing into the pavement and twisting down onto its passenger side. Truly, I’m lucky to be alive and even more lucky to have come out of the wreck without any broken bones.

While I’m at the hospital, the police officer at the scene came to see me. He told me that “all of the witnesses” say that I was the one who ran the red light. I couldn’t believe it. There was no way I ran the light. He cited me and told me that I had a few options. I could pay the fine, go to driving school, or fight the citation in court.

I quoted “all of the witnesses” for a reason here. While at the hospital, I was thinking that when the officer stated “all of the witnesses”, I was imagining anywhere between 5 to 10 people accusing me of running the red light because there were quite a few people at the scene. There was probably 15 to 20 people in total there. So, I was thinking “How could all of those people be wrong? I must be wrong.”, even though I remember having the green light. So at that time, I thought I fucked up bad, and I was just going to accept that it was my fault, though I knew deep down that it wasn’t.

I find out later that it was only 2 witnesses which were in the same vehicle that the officer was referring to. I felt deceived because of how he worded it to me. He didn’t say a “couple of witnesses” or “2 witnesses” or “a few witnesses”. No. He said “ALL of the witnesses”. Though as I write this, saying “all of the witnesses” is still accurate, it was worded and presented to me as if it were more than just 2 witnesses. On top of that deception, the officer also lost my driver’s license which he collected from me at the scene. It really wasn’t a good day for me.

A few days after the accident, the contractor who owns the FedEx route who is the man I was working for, was making a delivery stop at a local business near that area and he learns that one of their customers witnessed the accident. He also learns that the witness claims that the FedEx driver (me) had the green light, so he proceeds to retrieve the witnesses’ contact information.

It was through this witness that I learned how my truck actually lifted vertically into the air and how it came crashing down and finished twisting onto its side. I spoke with him and he said that he was about to get out of his truck to check on me, but then he saw me climb out of the windshield. He saw that I was okay and that so many others had shown up to help. He had other things to do so he decided not to stick around so he drove off and went about his day.

The picture below shows the intersection in which the collision took place. It shows which lane I was traveling on as well as which lane my witness was on and which lane the other 2 witnesses were in. I was going straight heading west. All of the witnesses were turning left. The ADOT truck I collided with was heading south on that intersection.

My witness (in blue) maintains that he is absolutely 100% positive that I had the green light while he had the red light to turn left. The light heading westbound and the light to turn left are two separate lights as you can see. The light going straight can be green while the light turning left is red.

I believe that the 2 witnesses (in green) assumed that I must’ve had the red light because they had the red light, being that they were to the far left. My witness confirms that there was a brown vehicle to his left when the accident happened and that they both did not move. Knowing this, it makes sense why the other 2 witnesses would think I had the red light even though I didn’t. I made this known in court.

I know I was not at fault. I know I had the green light.

However, in court today, as I tried to have my charges dropped, the judge ruled that because my witness did not stick around to give his statement to the authorities the day of the accident, that the other 2 witness statements, who did give their statements the day of the accident and were present when the officers arrived, had more weight and that she could only rule based on those facts.

The other 2 witnesses were not present in court today. They faxed in their statements and their statements were used in court on behalf of the driver I collided with. My witness did show up to court today and shared his entire story to the judge. Despite the fact that even in one of the statements of the other 2 witnesses they mention that they were waiting at the red light to turn left, which confirms what my witness was saying, the judge still ruled the way she did.

Obviously, I’m not happy about the decision. What we have here is a person (me) who was wrongfully cited for running a red light. I’ve been working as a professional FedEx Ground driver for 8 years and now, I can no longer drive for FedEx, even though I was innocent.

I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining because I have no room to complain considering the fact that I walked out of the crash with just cuts and bruises. I know so many others aren’t so fortunate and I am truly grateful not just for being alive, but for having all my body parts intact as well. Still, it isn’t right that I lost the case when I was the victim here.

It is what it is I suppose. I wasn’t planning on being a FedEx driver forever anyways. Shit happens.

The driver in the ADOT truck is alive and healthy. Both of us got lucky considering the magnitude of the accident. I have no pictures of his truck so I can’t include it here.

Thank you for listening to my little rant. You can leave your comments below.