Court Watching: VBT Police Officer Carrie Traster sues VBT, VBT PD, 2 others

Van Buren Township traffic cop Carrie Traster, who has been with the department for 13 years, filed suit on Aug. 19 naming as defendants the township, its police department, maintenance employee Michael Burgor, and Robert Allen Daugherty.
Daugherty is the driver of the car that collided with the police cruiser Officer Traster was driving on an emergency run, with lights and siren going, as it went through the Belleville Road-North I-94 Service Drive intersection.
The cruiser’s airbags did not deploy and Traster suffered a significant head injury that still keeps her from work. She currently is on workman’s compensation.
The accident happened at about 11:30 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014, when she was responding to assist at a domestic dispute at Walmart.
The law suit said Traster came into the intersection, as she was trained, with lights and sirens going. She stopped and then went forward and stopped again, as trained, to make sure all the drivers saw her.
Then, the law suit said, she proceeded into the intersection and a car slammed into her, her airbag did not deploy, and she suffered significant head injuries. The two people in the other car did not report any injuries at the time of the crash, according to a letter to the editor Traster sent to the Independent in which she said she was glad the other people did not suffer any serious injuries.
The law suit said that the police vehicle she was provided by the township was defective because the township’s maintenance department had disabled the airbag sensor.
Traster has not been cleared by her doctor to return to work and is in ongoing treatment.
The police car Traster was driving had previously been driven by another officer, who had been supervisor of the traffic team and therefore Traster’s supervisor. The officer eventually retired and went to work for Huron Township. She contacted him and found out what had happened with the car.
The lawsuit said the officer saw a flashing airbag sensor light in his vehicle and sent it to maintenance, who sent it out for repairs. The suit says it came back and then the light started flashing again. The officer complained and sent it back to maintenance. The suit alleges Burgor turned off the light, disabling the airbag sensor.
Then the car was returned to use and Traster was driving it the morning of the crash.
The personal injury-auto negligence law suit – 15-010902-NI – will have a status conference on Nov. 18 before Judge Edward Ewell, Jr. in Wayne County Third Circuit Court in Detroit.
Representing Traster is Southfield attorney Jeffrey A. Danzig. Danzig worked 18 years at Lopatin, Miller, where he was a top litigator with several multi-million dollar verdicts in both medical malpractice and personal injury claims. He was with Ven Johnson and Geoffrey Fieger from 2002 to 2012, when he was named Partner at Fieger. In 2014 he joined Johnson Law.