Alaska Driver Awarded $375K For Crash With Patrol Car

A man whose pickup was smashed by a patrol car driven by an Anchorage, Alaska police officer running red light was awarded $375,000 in damages.

The Anchorage Daily News reported the jury Friday chose not to award $2.5 million in punitive damages sought by Melvin Rush for the 2010 crash.

Rush’s lawyer, Jim Valcarce, says Officer Michael Wisel was looking at his in-car computer when he ran the red light. The attorney argued that jurors should have punished Wisel with a punitive damages award to make sure it didn’t happen again.

He called Wisel’s driving outrageous and reckless and said Wisel received only a verbal reprimand from his police department supervisors.