Brothers say an LAPD street racing officer caused high-speed crash that left them with serious injuries

Two brothers critically injured after their car was struck by a Los Angeles Police Department patrol car in June have filed a negligence lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and the LAPD, alleging the officer who was driving was needlessly speeding at 80 mph just before the impact. Stephen and Richard Paper, 74 and 76, were in a Toyota Camry that was broadsided by the LAPD cruiser traveling southbound on Balboa Boulevard in Encino, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, as the brothers made a left turn to go west on Burbank Boulevard. He was part of the street racing task force,” said attorney Robert S. Glassman, who represents the Paper brothers in their suit. An LAPD traffic collision investigation report blamed the officer, Jason C. Stevenson, for causing the crash that happened just before 8 p.m. on June 4. “The primary cause of the his crash is Party 1 (Jason Stevenson) in violation of 22350 of the California Vehicle Code, unsafe speed,” wrote the LAPD collision investigator. The LAPD collision report noted that had the officer been driving at the posted speed limit, which was 45 mph, “this crash would not have occurred,” as there would have been enough time for the brothers to have turned through the intersection. “A street racing task force unit assigned to Valley Traffic Division heard a vehicle with loud exhaust and then observed the vehicle speeding southbound on Balboa Boulevard,” the statement said. Glassman said the brothers led active lives before they suffered catastrophic physical injuries in the wreck, adding the men are still undergoing in-patient care. The I-Team reported last year that in recent years nearly a quarter of LAPD car chases led to collisions, and the people most often injured were “third parties,” meaning members of the public unrelated to the police action. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lapd-lawsuit-high-speed-crash-rcna167003