Then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s “indecision” is partly to blame for the death of a Dallas policeman who crashed his motorcycle while riding in her motorcade, according to a lawsuit filed by the slain officer’s family.
The suit filed this week alleges that 49-year-old Victor A. Lozada, a 20-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department, died in 2008 because he was not properly trained or sufficiently experienced to accompany Clinton’s motorcade on motorcycle — and he was forced to do so because Clinton waited until the last minute to request assistance from the department.
The suit claims that with Clinton’s experience as first lady and senator, having been in numerous motorcades over the years, she should’ve known that “motorcade escorts require sufficient notice and advance coordination to be performed safely.”
Clinton and her campaign “waited so long to request the motorcycle escort that there was insufficient time to adequately prepare for the safety and well being of the officers,” the suit claims.
“Clinton knew from first-hand eyewitness observation that the officers conducting the motorcycle escort detail were required to operate at very dangerous speeds and that a motorcade required careful planning and coordination,” the suit reads.
The family’s attorney, David Schiller, did not respond to several calls to his Plano, Texas law office.
Along with Clinton — now Secretary of State in Obama’s administration — the suit is filed against her presidential campaign committee, the City of Dallas and the company that manufactured his helmet.
Clinton campaign lawyer Lyn Utrecht could not be reached for comment.
The accident in Clinton’s motorcade is just one in a long line of motorcade accidents in recent years:
- This month in Vancouver, figure skater Peggy Fleming and bobsled champion Vonetta Flowers suffered minor injuries when riding in Vice President Biden’s motorcade, which was rear-ended.
- In November, a sheriff’s deputy in New Mexico who was blocking an intersection for Biden’s motorcade was injured when he was hit by a car.
- A New York City cab driver in November was struck by a police car in Biden’s motorcade on the way to a taping of “The Daily Show.”
- Two Secret Service vehicles in Biden’s motorcade hit and killed a pedestrian in November outside Washington.
- New Mexico cop Germaine Casey died in 2008 in President George W. Bush’s motorcade when his motorcycle crashed.
- Honolulu police officer Steve Favela died in 2006 after his motorcycle in Bush’s motorcade crashed on wet roads