FRENCHTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) - A terrible accident on a rain slicked road leaves a man seriously hurt when his pickup truck slams into the back of a fire truck. The pickup driver had no insurance and police reports blamed him for the crash.
Now he's suing the township where it happened and the firefighter who helped save his life. Is he looking for justice, or a free ride?
This is a story that has two sides, and a lot of different angles. It involves a man with a checkered driving record, a government agency that broke down, and a big question: should taxpayers be held liable for this man's injuries?
It was June 19th, 2009. One of those days with on and off rain that leaves the pavement slick. A day when most drivers back off the gas pedal a bit. But Nick Otter isn't like most drivers. At 28, he'd racked up nine infractions on his driving record, including careless driving, running a stop sign and two citations for speeding.
Otter was about to have his fifth accident in four years, and this one would be a doozy. As he rounded a sharp curve on Sandy Creek Road in Frenchtown Township, Otter slammed into the back of a fire truck. The bright yellow rig was stopped with emergency lights flashing attending to another accident. A police dash cam was rolling and caught part of it on tape.
A Sheriff's deputy and two other witnesses put the blame squarely on Nick Otter. In a police report, Deputy Robert Blair said that Otter's truck was "traveling at a speed too fast for the curve," that it "crossed the center line" and that the pickup hit the fire truck with such force it "caused the pump truck to move forward slightly".
Another witness, a tow truck driver said that Otter was "traveling at approximately 50 miles per hour," that his pickup drifted into the opposite lane and began to "fish tail" just before slamming into the fire truck.
Nick Otter was hurt badly. His leg was mangled and his lung punctured by broken ribs. The firefighter, Fred Carter, who was manning the pumper truck quickly fired up the jaws of life. He and other firefighters freed Otter from the wreckage, and probably saved his life.
Otter was ticketed for driving without insurance, and our investigation uncovered another troubling fact even the police at the scene didn't know. When he slammed into that fire truck, Otter shouldn't have been driving. Court records show a judge had previously suspended his license as part of Otter's probation for a drug conviction.
The suspension should have been in effect at the time of the crash. But the Monroe County clerk ' s office dropped the ball and didn't notify the Secretary of State, so the suspension didn't go through.
Now this man whose license should have been suspended, had no insurance, and was going too fast according to witnesses is now suing Frenchtown Township and the firefighter who helped save his life.
When Action News Investigator Scott Lewis tried to talk with Nick Otter, he got the brush off.
"Get off my property," Otter told Lewis. "You don't want to answer any questions," Lewis asked. Otter replied: "This is private property, go on."
Otter's lawyer did talk to Lewis and he says this accident is not as cut and dried as it might appear.
"The fireman ended up saving my client from an injury that may have been caused by the fireman,” said attorney John Kaplansky.
Kaplansky's version of what happened contradicts the witness statements. He says Otter was not speeding as three witnesses said and he did not cross the center line.
Even though the fire truck appears to be right on the center line in police photos, Kaplansky claims it was actually in Otter's lane and may have been moved back across the center line by the impact.
"I'm saying the position of the vehicle, which very well may have been backing up at the time, not stationary, is the cause of the accident, yeah," Kaplansky said.
Kaplansky points out that a flag man who had been slowing traffic left his post just before Otter came around the corner. Otter told police he encountered the truck and had no room to get around it.
Because he didn't have insurance, under no fault law, Otter can't sue for anything except lost wages. But when the crash happened, he didn't have a job, and hadn't worked for quite a while according to his estranged wife Sarah who's been married to him since 2006.
"He didn't work for two whole years," said Sarah Otter. "Even when the unemployment ran out, he promised me he would do anything, and he wouldn't do nothing."
In his lawsuit, Otter claims he's disabled and can't work.
"We see blind people working, people in wheel chairs, people with closed head injuries. Isn't there something he could do to earn a living?" Investigator Scott Lewis asked Otter's lawyer.
"I don't know that he'll never work," John Kaplansky said. "I know he'll probably be incapable of doing some jobs due to disability."
Otter's wife told Action News that her husband is very active, that he even goes snowmobiling and jet skiing.
When
