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Motorcyclist Sues Westport Police After Crashing Into Roadblock

WESTPORT (CBS) - A 31-year-old motorcyclist from Westport is suing the police department after he crashed into a roadblock.

Derek Pereira was severely injured in the incident last August.

At 2:00 a.m. that morning, a Westport Police officer tried to stop Pereira for speeding, but he took off. Another officer, Jarrod Levesque, then used his cruiser as a roadblock, maneuvering it across both eastbound lanes of Rt. 6.

Moments later, Pereira came speeding over a hill and crashed into the cruiser. Pereira claims the roadblock was illegal.

Westport police
Dashcam image from Westport Police cruiser moments before motorcyclist crashed (WBZ-TV)

"The roadblock was set up below a hill, so it can't be seen until you crest the hill, and it was designed in a manner that was likely to cause a crash," said Pereira's attorney Howard Friedman.

Pereira is known to police and there was a brief pursuit before the crash.

WBZ security analyst Ed Davis says the driver has a responsibility not to run from police, but there is also Supreme Court precedent.

"They shouldn't be fleeing they should be stopping," Davis said. "If there's a roadblock set up, it has to be a roadblock that isn't around a corner, that isn't in a situation where the individual who is going 90 or 100 miles an hour is bound to get into an accident."

Neither the town nor police would comment because the case is being litigated.

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