He pulled over to let a CHP officer pass. Instead, the patrol car rear-ended him at high speed
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Nathaniel Frydel thought he knew what to do when he saw flashing lights in his rearview mirror on his way to work. He slowed down, pulled to the right and tried to let the emergency vehicle pass on the left.
Instead of slowing down and passing him, though, California Highway Patrol Officer Joshua Brian Jones rear-ended Frydel’s 2000 Nissan Maxima at 75 mph, according to a CHP crash report. The speed limit on Sunrise Boulevard in Rancho Cordova, where the collision occurred, is 45 mph.
“(Jones) drove at a speed too great for the traffic upon the roadway which resulted in this crash,” the CHP report read.
Frydel has filed a lawsuit against Jones and the CHP in Sacramento Superior Court for a yet-to-be-determined amount of money.
The early-morning crash in mid-January left Frydel with a herniated disc and chronic pain, the 27-year-old said. His car was totaled, and because he can’t afford a new one, he’s currently borrowing a vehicle from his parents. He had plans to go to graduate school in Germany or Egypt, where he was accepted into Middle East and Islamic studies programs. But because of his pain management treatments, Frydel thinks he’ll have to delay his already-deferred admission and reapply in a year.
“It hasn’t been fun,” Frydel said of his injuries and pain management.
Officer Josh Sherwood, a spokesperson for the CHP’s East Sacramento office, said the department couldn’t immediately provide comment, although he doubted the department would be able to speak about ongoing litigation.
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