GILL — Town Administrator Ray Purington announced at a Selectboard meeting this week that an insurance adjustor has deemed one of the town’s police cruisers a “total loss” following an accident.
Beverly Babcock-Morris, a 61-year-old Greenfield resident who rear-ended Gill Police Chief Christopher Redmond’s police cruiser last week, is being charged with a marked lanes violation and for lacking care in starting, stopping, turning or backing, according to a crash report from Massachusetts State Police.
Babcock-Morris hit the chief’s cruiser at 8:42 a.m. on Dec. 2, as Redmond was patrolling the Route 10 area. Redmond recounted that the other vehicle, a four-door sedan containing Babcock-Morris and a passenger, hit his cruiser as he waswaiting to turn left onto Turners Falls Road in Bernardston. The State Police crash report cites that Babcock-Morris was allegedly distracted while driving “erratic” and “reckless.”
Redmond received only “a little small scratch” in terms of injuries, and the crash report indicates Babcock-Morris sustained non-life-threatening injuries. She was transported by Northfield EMS to Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield.
“So far, we’ve been lucky both times that our officers have not been injured or were very slightly injured,” Selectboard member Randy Crochier said in regard to this incident and the last accident involving a cruiser in 2018.
Gill, which had three police cruisers prior to the crash, is currently exploring replacement options for the cruiser.
“As far as the replacement process goes, the cruiser was declared a total loss by the insurance company, and we are working on options for replacement at this time,” Redmond wrote in an email. “A lengthy delay may happen for replacement due to logistic and supply delays.”
The Selectboard acknowledged that the timing of the accident was in-line with existing plans to replace a police cruiser with a hybrid model in the near future.
“I think we were all planning on purchasing a cruiser this year and we were planning for a hybrid,” Crochier noted.
Purington said that, based on conversations Redmond has had with MHQ, an emergency vehicle equipment and accessories company, “there’s a chance that hybrid cruisers might be available sooner than a traditional cruiser.”
Reach Julian Mendoza
at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.