The heads of public safety departments are often seen as trustworthy community leaders we can look to when danger arises. Fire and police department chiefs are charged with protecting a city or town's residents when it comes to crime, accidents or natural disasters. But one resident is claiming his community's fire chief did just the opposite in a car accident last year.

A man was driving a pickup truck carrying four passengers and a boat trailer when a Ford SUV rear-ended the trailer, causing the truck to spin out of its lane and come to rest facing the opposite direction on the center line of the road, according to a lawsuit filed in the Terrebone Courthouse. The SUV was being driven by the chief of the Little Caillou, Louisiana, Volunteer Fire District, who was in the process of responding to a car accident in nearby Cocodrie. The SUV was a department-owned vehicle.

One of the passengers in the truck is suing the fire chief, saying that he suffered "serious, painful, permanent and disabling injuries" to his neck and knee. The suit, which also names the fire department and its insurance company, seeks damages for physical pain and suffering, shock, fear, humiliation and other reasons.

The fire chief has countered that the crash was minor and the air bags in the SUV he was driving didn't deploy. But it will take further and more objective investigation to determine what the impact was to the pickup truck, which could have been older and suffered more damage as the vehicle that was hit.

The fire chief was not ticketed, but was responsible for the crash, according to state police troopers who responded to the incident. Although he was driving slower than usual, it was because there was a good deal of fog and rain, which could have contributed to the crash.

Accidents happen, and when injuries are involved, it's fair to request that the driver who caused the accident be asked to at least partially reimburse the injured person. The outcome of this case will determine whether the injuries are severe enough to demand compensation, and whether the fire chief caused those injuries to happen.

Source: Daily Comet, "Little Caillou Fire chief sued over crash," Eric Heisig, Jan. 10, 2012