Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Trash Collector Owes Injured Cop $2 Million

LOS ANGELES (CN) - A police officer who was sideswiped on his motorcycle by a garbage truck driving on the wrong side of the street deserves $2.2 million in damages, a jury ruled.

Scott Wiese, a sergeant with 26 years at the Monterey Park Police Department, says the accident caused him to break both writs and bruise his pelvis.

He said he was on duty when an Athens Disposal dba Athens Services truck drove on the wrong side of the street, pulled in front of him and slammed into his motorcycle.

Wiese and his wife sued the Industry-based waste collector and its driver, Christian Vicente, in 2010.

A superior court jury found Thursday that Vicente was negligent and that he had been acting within the scope of his employment at the time of the accident.

The verdict form assessed $2.2 million in damages for Wiese, and another $25,000 for his wife.

"We are hopeful that the verdict will convince Athens that they need to properly train and route their drivers so they do not pose dangers to the public by driving on the wrong side of the road," Weise's attorney Gregory Bentley said in a statement.

"This award will allow Mr. Weise and his wife to handle the lifelong medical care which he now requires," added Bentley, an attorney with Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley in Beverly Hills.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...