| Millsaps seeks data from LPD vehicle wreck Jonathan Herrmann news-herald.net
As the regular monthly meeting for Loudon City
Council wrapped up Monday night, discussion turned from budgeted
items to a insurance dispute between Councilman Lynn Millsaps and
the city.
Monday marked the second time Millsaps had brought
the incident to the attention of council and the public.
The wreck occurred July 20 when a building owned by
Millsaps on Mulberry Street was hit by a police vehicle while
responding to a call. The driver who caused the accident was
uninsured.
“The next day the city insurance agent stopped by
to tell me I was just out of luck,” Millsaps said during a Sept.
18 meeting. “The city and utility pays the insurance agent over
$661,000 a year for insurance.”
Millsaps requested access to the “event data
recorder” of the police vehicle involved in the incident during
the Sept. 18 meeting and Monday said he had received no response
from the city.
“I’m not familiar with that particular
terminology,” James “Bear” Webb, Loudon police chief, said.
“What I am familiar with is each of these late model automobiles
has an on-board computer.
“With the information that I had, I reached out
and talked to the service manager at the dealership where we
take our cars for warranty work and he advised me that it is
possible, and I emphasize possible, that if the car was brought
to them that they could hook it up to their diagnostic equipment
and there may be some information there, but they don’t know
because they’ve never done anything like this,” he added. “The
only reason they feel like there may be some information there
is because the airbag deployed.”
Millsaps replied that his attorney “wanted it in
his possession” when the information was pulled. “If the city
has that done, who knows what the results could be,” Millsaps
said.
Jim Greenway, Loudon mayor, questioned whether
there was a policy allowing access to that part of a vehicle.
“There are insurance implications to that,” Joe
Ford, city attorney, said. “I guess one of the purposes of
getting this event data recorder is to determine potentially
that Loudon Police Department is responsible for this accident.
Then we wouldn’t be talking about an (uninsured motorist) claim,
we’d be talking about a liability claim. If we’re proved
responsible for the accident then we’re responsible for the
damage to the building. ... We have to run that through the
insurance company to make that kind of decision. Whenever the
event data recorder is pulled, both parties want a
representative there to ensure that the work is being done
fairly.
“... I don’t know if that’s where councilman
Millsaps is going, to potentially prove that it was the city of
Loudon’s fault, but we have a duty to involve our insurance
company in that kind of thing,” he added.
Councilman Dennis Stewart, who also had a
vehicle damaged in the accident, was surprised the city
doesn’t have uninsured motorist insurance, but Ford said
that was common practice for commercial policies.
“I just don’t want to see this happen to
anybody else,” Millsaps said. “We pay our insurance agent
hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and I think our
citizens should be a little better covered than being told
you’re just out of luck.”
In other action, council:
• Authorized discharge of firearms within
city limits for the Loudon Fire and Police Turkey Shoot,
scheduled Nov. 4, 11 and 18 at Loudon Municipal Park. Money
raised will aid the Children’s Christmas Fund.
• Authorized certain public works department
equipment to be considered surplus.
• Approved use of spray thermo street marking
for Grove Street from Mulberry Street to Highway 72, and
Steekee Street from Grove Street to the city limit.
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10/23/17