When crashes occur on Arizona roads, they can tie up traffic for hours. This happened with a recent car accident case in Phoenix, Arizona, that caused the freeway in the north Valley to be shut down for hours on a Sunday night. The accident happened on Loop 101 and resulted in the Pima Freeway's eastbound lanes being closed.
According to an officer with the Department of Public Safety, the crash resulted in a Phoenix police detective being injured. His injuries were not life-threatening, and he was treated for them at a local hospital. Others injured in the crash included a motorcyclist, whose injuries were life-threatening. In total, the accident included five vehicles.
According to the police spokesperson, the detective pulled over a passenger car for a moving violation. The passenger car then moved into the road's right emergency lane. At that time, a pickup truck rear-ended the SUV of the detective. The truck, which had been pulling a travel trailer, also sideswiped the passenger car. The detective's SUV wound up going into the HOV lane.
Once that crash happened, traffic was slowed down because of the resulting congestion. Another SUV was then rear-ended by a motorcyclist. That motorcyclist, who was not identified, was thrown off the sport motorcycle, suffering his or her injuries. No further information was available about the current condition of the motorcyclist.
The name of the detective in the case was not released. According to Phoenix police, the detective, 42, is a 16-year veteran of the Phoenix police department. He is currently listed as being in stable condition and is said to be improving.
Arizona car accidents like this one involving multiple vehicles can be challenging to investigate. Correspondingly, it can take some time to determine who is at fault and what their legal liability is. Injured parties may have the legal right to seek compensation many civil claims, such as pain and suffering, medical expenses and emotional distress, among other damages.