Wife of Braves trainer Jeff Porter killed in car accident

[Old Sweater]

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd280/OldSweater/jeff-porter.jpg


http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111231&content_id=26250408&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb&partnerId=rss_mlb

ATLANTA -- Bobby Cox, Fredi Gonzalez and Brian McCann were among the members of the Braves organization who rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital on Saturday evening to be with the organization's head trainer Jeff Porter as he dealt with the tragic death of his wife.

Porter's wife, Kathy Porter, died late Saturday afternoon after the family's sports utility vehicle collided with a Georgia State Patrol cruiser less than a mile north of Turner Field.

Porter was driving through the intersection of Capitol Avenue and Memorial Drive when the police cruiser slammed into his Ford Expedition. Kathy Porter, 54, suffered fatal injuries while her husband and 19-year-old son David were treated and released from Grady Memorial Hospital Saturday night with non-critical injuries.

The unidentified state police officer was attempting to assist other police officers with a high-speed chase involving a motorcycle on nearby Interstate 20. According to the GSP report, the trooper was traveling westbound on Memorial Drive with lights and siren activated.

Now here in Colorado I have observed patrol cars slowing down, then proceeding with caution at a intersection. I don't know what they was chasing the motorcycle for, but to me this is a very senseless death.

[runningshoes]

That's so sad.

My condolences to Mr. Porter.

[Rusty]

That is sad. My thoughts go out to that family.

[Mudge]

A tough loss. RIP, Mrs. Porter.

[The Edge]

This is just a tragic event and we are hoping that it doesn't get swept under the rug. From what it seems a police officer just assumes the traffic light is clear, and witnesses have stated no sirens were on despite Ga State Patrol stating they were. We have laws in Ga that basically state a LEO or other Emergency vehicle can only violate traffic laws when citizens will be safe but they do not have the right of way and have to proceed with their own regard. This officer apparently roared through a light without even slowing up to make sure everyone seen him and now someone is dead.

There is a much updated story here:
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/gsp-continues-investigate-fatal-crash-killed-kathy/nGFBj/

[Old Sweater]

I don't think it will be swept under the rug in this case like for the average joe or suzy citizen. What really gets to me, is it was a 10 year vet that done this???

[The Edge]

Atlanta and Metro Atlanta PD have not been very sparkling over the past few years. I was reading today of 1 man who was picked on in Metro Atlanta for having chickens and then a zoning law made those chickens illegal so they arrested him and basically after he won a court case was literally picked on and locked up for 7 months due to the # of cars in his driveway. Another incident sent a man to jail for about 6 months for firing a warning shot at a suspected robber. The APD shot him, took him to jail on trumped charges and was locked up, lost his job, his house burnt down, someone stole his cars, and the city refused to turn the water off and now the charges are dropped he's left homeless, jobless and has a 12k water bill.

Even crazier is that in 6-7 months I am planning a move to Atlanta lol. (yep I'm insane, but its college related)

[Old Sweater]

It's cases like that, that makes me resent cops and the court system in general. There always seems to be a crooked court system backing the few bad apples, who bends their own laws they're suppose to enforce.

I've had one cop buddy and we had two things in common, we didn't care for cops that much and we were both baseball fans.

[The Edge]

The Cop was fired today. I don't want to misquote but the guy was in like something like 15-20 accidents in his time with the Ga State Patrol and like over a half dozen he was ruled at fault for including 1 on Feb. 8 and Feb 10, 2011. Looks like GSP may be going bankrupt after this

[runningshoes]

The Cop was fired today. I don't want to misquote but the guy was in like something like 15-20 accidents in his time with the Ga State Patrol and like over a half dozen he was ruled at fault for including 1 on Feb. 8 and Feb 10, 2011. Looks like GSP may be going bankrupt after this

Good. I hope he sues.

[Old Sweater]

He should have been fired way before this happened. Scary to think how many of these cases get swept under the rug nation wide. A Colorado State Patrolman almost took me out in 1980 or so when I was on a motorcycle, 15 miles north of Pueblo on I-25. He was chasing a car at a very high rate of speed and I didn't see him in my left mirror(and I know I looked) when I went to pass a car. No siren, just lights, and he showed me that was all that was required by law in his handbook. He didn't give me a ticket, but dang, I almost lost my life so he could issue a speeding ticket.

[yankeebiscuitfan]

The state trooper involved in the New Year's Eve collision that killed the wife of Atlanta Braves trainer Jeff Porter was fired on Friday, Georgia's public safety commissioner said.

Ex-Trooper Donald Crozier "failed to use due regard when traveling through the intersection" through a red light, according to a police report on the crash that killed 54-year-old Kathy Porter of Loganville and injured her husband, teenage son and his friend in downtown Atlanta. Crozier is no longer with the state patrol, Col. Mark W. McDonough said in a statement.

Crozier's vehicle had all its emergency equipment activated and ran the light while on his way to help another trooper in a chase, according to an accident report released Friday.

When the part in bold is true, is he really the only one to blame?

[The Edge]

When the part in bold is true, is he really the only one to blame?

Emergency services do not have the right of way. They have to proceed with caution and err on the side of public safety. Also eyewitness reports state that he did not have his sirens on, it was 4:30PM rendering it pretty worthless to have just the lights on. He failed to come to a stop at a red traffic signal. What I think happened is that this cop, who has a large history of averaging nearly 2 accidents per year in his 10 years on the force, turned his emergency equipment such as sirens on after the accident for reports to say sirens were on but no eyewitness heard a siren.


Thomas pored over the records on Crozier and quickly discovered a pattern of wrecks his commanders found him at fault for. Thomas counted four in the past four years.

The last incident happened at the intersection of the Holmes and Burton. As Crozier began a chase, he ran a red light, hitting a car. (Attribute.)

"Just because there is blue lights on and a siren, there is no force field around that patrol car," former Atlanta police Officer Tony Corroto said.

The records contained an internal memo that Crozier's commanding officer wrote saying, "Our job requires us to sometimes drive aggressively in order to perform our job duties. This does not relieve us from driving defensively and with due regard. …Fortunately, no one was injured. It is this type of behavior that must be corrected."

The letter of concern came just seven months before the wreck that killed Porter.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/documents-show-trooper-had-history-wrecks-prior-fa/nGHQ8/