BRUNSWICK
Brunswick Police say poor weather may have been a factor early Wednesday morning when a pedestrian was struck by a police cruiser.
According to a press release issued by Patrol Cmdr. Marc Hagan, Officer Matthew Nicholson, 23, was operating a marked cruiser when he turned from Maine Street onto the ramp to Mill Street.
John Ross, 35, of Topsham was walking north across the Mill Street ramp on a crosswalk when he was struck by Nicholson while on patrol at 1:28 a.m.
Ross was transported to Maine Medical Center in Portland with non-life threatening injuries, where he was treated and released.
Nicholso was not injured, though the cruiser’s windshield was damaged.
“Mr. Ross has acknowledged that he did not use the crosswalk button, and was walking against the signal,” Hagan’s statement reads.
In an interview with The Times Record, Hagan said Ross had not seen the cruiser, nor had Nicholson seen Ross, during the heavy rain storm.
“ Officer Nicholson was very upset,” Hagan said.
Asked where Ross was headed when the crash occurred, Hagan said Ross told police he was headed home after a night out at a local establishment in Brunswick.
“It is believed that vision for both parties involved was hindered by the extremely hard rain storm that was passing through the area at the time of the crash,” Hagan stated in the press release. “The crash is currently under investigation by Brunswick Police supervisory personnel.”
Hagan said the results of that investigation will be reviewed by the department’s crash re-constructionist, Lt. Tom Garrepy.
As with any officer-involved crash, the department’s crash review committee will review the circumstance of the crash, determine if there was any fault or violation of policy, and see if the department should do anything different in the future.
“The only thing we try to remind people is, first of all, there’s a reason we have the pedestrian signals,” Hagan said, “and especially at night and in a rain storm you still need to look around and make sure it’s safe to cross the street.”
dmoore@timesrecord.com
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