On Wednesday, Nov 4., there was a “chain-reaction” car crash on Park Avenue, which resulted in off-campus students’ cars being damaged.
The crash took place outside the students’ off-campus house, near the Center for Healthcare Education, at approximately 10:30 p.m.
The crash was caused by a Bridgeport city police officer. The officer ended up losing control of his vehicle, crashing into the first vehicle and beginning the domino effect.
“All three of us at the house heard a loud tire screeching noise and then a loud crash. When we looked out the window, we saw a police car had hit Vince’s car, which was parked in front of our house, and pushed it into Paul’s car, which was parked in our driveway,” said Nick Dibernardino, a Sacred Heart student whose vehicle was damaged in the accident. “Paul’s car shoved its rear onto our lawn and then rammed Vince’s car into Andy’s. My car was in front of all the others and had minimal damage.”
While Dibernardino and his two housemates were home at the time, Vincent Avallone, the fourth housemate, was at Sacred Heart’s monthly Bingo. He returned home to see his car destroyed and presented his own idea about what had happened.
“I was mostly shocked. It seems unreasonable to be going down a straight road and swerving to the right into parked cars without being intoxicated, or texting and driving,” said Avallone.
Dibernardino was also confused about how the accident happened.
“When I ran outside, my first instinct was to look for the other car that must have caused the cop to crash into our cars, but there wasn’t one. It was just one police car,” said Dibernardino.
Nobody was seriously injured. At the time of the incident, the housemates present were inside, and the officer was properly evaluated by EMS services.
“After the accident, my roommates spoke to the cop who crashed. He was not injured but a little dazed from the crash,” said Avallone.
While nobody was hurt, the students’ cars were severely damaged. Three cars were demolished and a fourth was damaged.
“I was just in disbelief over the entire thing. I was relieved that my car wasn’t demolished like my housemates, but just to hear that noise and look out and see a police vehicle crashed into all of our cars was bewildering,” said Dibernardino.
After discovering that the officer was okay, the students asked him what had happened. The officer admitted that he was not responding to a call, and that the accident was completely his fault.
“We were never given an actual clear reason as to how the accident even happened,” said Dibernardino.
Other officers responded to the scene, and they gave the students information about what would happen next.
“The cops who came were good and respectful, apologizing that we had to go through this, and handled the situation well. They took pictures of the scene, got our registration and insurance, told us to get all belongings out of our cars, gave us an accident report and explained to all of us about how everything will be paid for by our insurance,” said Avallone.
