DOVER -- A Rollinsford man seriously injured in a crash involving a state trooper in 2009 has filed suit against the state police and the officer involved.
David LaRoche was riding his motorcycle north on Route 16 behind trooper Elizabeth Keyes on May 25, 2009, when she pulled into the breakdown lane and attempted a U-turn, leading him to smash into her cruiser.
An accident report by state police Sgt. Daniel Berridge, released publicly last summer after a series of New Hampshire Union Leader articles spurred a change in state law to allow disclosure of state police accident records, concluded that Keyes was at fault.
Keyes should have been certain it was safe to make a U-turn and that vehicles behind her were far enough away, Berridge wrote in his report, which said the trooper had been "acting in good faith in the performance of her duties as a police officer."
A suit LaRoche filed last Friday in Strafford County Superior Court says Keyes "failed to use her lights and sirens, failed to operate at a safe speed and failed to operate her vehicle in a safe and reasonable manner by pulling to the breakdown lane and attempting to make an abrupt U-turn."
The suit says Keyes couldn't complete the turn because she was blocked by southbound traffic and that her cruiser was blocking the northbound travel lane, leading LaRoche to collide with the vehicle.
LaRoche was injured badly enough that he had to be airlifted to Maine Medical Center in Portland. He had a fractured pelvis and ribs, a shoulder injury, a lung contusion and some road rash.
The suit also alleges that the state Department of Safety "failed to properly train and supervise state troopers regarding the method of making U-turns and otherwise pursuing vehicles" and that the department "failed to adequately train troopers to determine when pursuit was warranted."
Keyes was making the turn to chase speeders heading south on Route 16.
State police Col. Robert Quinn said this week that he was "unaware" of the suit and declined to comment on it.
Kenneth Murphy, LaRoche's attorney, did not return calls for comment.
