Amherst to collect $60,000 in lawsuit over accident that injured police officer

Sept. 03--A towing company whose truck struck and injured an Amherst police officer at an accident scene in 2015 has agreed to pay nearly $60,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the town.

The town is obligated under state law to cover the wages and medical expenses of an officer injured in the line of duty, but the same law allows the town to try to recover those payments from the party that caused the injuries.

Officer James Quigley was hurt on May 1, 2015, after responding to an accident at Niagara Falls Boulevard and Ridge Lea Road.

He was wearing a brightly colored safety vest and was directing traffic when a tow truck driven by Timothy Laufer struck him from behind in the left shoulder, with its passenger side mirror, and in the left side with the bed of the truck, according to court papers.

Quigley was knocked to the ground but got up and talked to Laufer, who admitted he was unfamiliar with the truck. Quigley finished his shift but later went to Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, Amherst, where he complained of pain in his cervical spine, lower back, tailbone and both knees, the town contended in its lawsuit.

Quigley did not return to work until March 2016, when he began light duty, and he returned to full duty at the end of that May.

The town sued Certified Towing and United Auto Group, because one company owned and one leased the truck; and Laufer, the operator; in 2016 in State Supreme Court. The town said it paid $145,545 in salary, medical expenses and compensation to Quigley due to the accident.

The town is not eligible for repayment for that full amount, Town Attorney Stanley Sliwa said, primarily because of the nature of New York's no-fault insurance provisions.

However, the town is agreeing to settle the lawsuit with Certified Towing for $59,770, essentially the most it is allowed to collect in the case, Sliwa said.

The suit was scheduled to go to trial next month. The Town Board is set to vote on the proposed settlement at Tuesday's board meeting.

This is one of a number of lawsuits Amherst has filed in recent years to collect the money it pays to officers injured in the line of duty.

The Town Board on Tuesday also will vote to accept a $4,573 settlement in a case where a driver crashed into a patrol vehicle on April 14, 2017, on Maple Road, damaging the officer's SUV but not injuring him.

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