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Crash Victim Speaks Out On Odessa Police Slow Response
Crash Victim Speaks Out On Odessa Police Slow Response 10/03/12
fbolton@cbs7.com
CBS 7 News Reporter
October 3, 2012
ODESSA, TX - An accident on an Odessa roadway has victims complaining about Odessa police's delayed response.
For Keith Villanueva his drive home started off as an average Thursday night.
"I was pulling up to the intersection of Yukon and Grand View and the light was red when I was coming up to the intersection, but then it changed to green. So I decided to go ahead and go thought the intersection like any normal person would do," says crash victim Keith Villanueva.
Then suddenly, a car crossing the intersection smashed into his vehicle. Villanueva’s insurance says his car is a total loss.
Villanueva waited in the intersection with a tow truck driver for nearly 2 hours, until police showed up. Once they arrived, they did not issue citation or even file a report.
"He says he wasn't going to file a report, which upset me a little bit… considering the lady ran the red light and was the cause for the whole wreck. So she got off without a ticket and I'm out of a car," says Villanueva.
Odessa police say it was a busy night and the accident wasn't major.
"On a busy night, when we have a heavy call load…if there are no injuries, they are told to move the vehicle out of the road way. They are advised that it's going to be a while before an officer can come," says Odessa Police Public Information Officer Sherrie Carruth.
They say they we're following standard procedure. Police say if they do not work an accident than they do not issue citations.
"If they go out to the scene of an accident and the car cannot be moved or there has been injuries involved in that accident, then an officer is going to work the accident," says Carruth.
Police say the late response is not due to under staffing but the heavy workloads on Thursday nights.
Villanueva says that all accidents should be considered priority and no one should wait in a busy intersection for hours without police response.