SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Halloween night crash between a Sacramento police car and a motorcycle remains under investigation Tuesday.
Nearly 24 hours later, some broken glass and debris still lied at the scene on Bell and May Street.
The motorcyclist, only described as a man, died after being taken to the hospital. According to the Sacramento Police Department, the officer was on the way to a call for service involving a felony in progress.
The officer was in a marked car but did not have their emergency lights or sirens activated.
Attorney and legal expert Mark Reichel said the law in California requires drivers to not be negligent, and no one is exempt from traffic laws "except when there's a verifiable emergency."
"Emergency means really a risk of life, loss of life to someone or great harm to someone. Those are the two real exceptions, and when you do so, you have to activate both the siren and the light. Both are required," Reichel said.
There is an exemption when an officer doesn't want to alert a suspect that they're coming, but he said that's a rare occasion.
"100% of the time, the officer's priority is not how fast they can get to the scene, but the safety of everybody on the route on their way to the scene. Because even if it is a felony in progress... something like this happens, that's a bigger problem," Reichel said.
He said the city could be liable if there wasn't a true reason for keeping the lights and siren off. It could take up to three months to get a report after an investigation.
"There's an in-car camera mounted to the dash of the police so that's gonna be very important," Reichel said.
The circumstances of the crash are under investigation, but for now, detectives are asking anyone who may have information to contact Sacramento Police Department.
You can contact the dispatch center at (916) 808-5471 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at (916) 443-HELP (4357).
The Sacramento County Coroner’s Office will release the identity of the deceased after next of kin have been notified.
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