A Flagstaff police officer resigned days after he was involved in a two-car crash that left one person dead. The officer was only recently reinstated after getting medical clearance from a previous crash.
Jacob Buckwald resigned from the department Tuesday. On Saturday morning, he was involved in a collision that left another person dead and him with minor injuries.
Buckwald had returned to duty just weeks earlier, having recovered from an on-duty crash last year following a sudden medical emergency. A civil lawsuit against him and the city filed in connection with that crash claims he’d been speeding upwards of 70 miles an hour on a busy street before rear-ending another car.
According to police, he’d received final medical clearance this summer and returned to full patrol duty Aug. 31.
"The life of one of our community members tragically ended last Saturday and my heart goes out to everyone this individual personally touched," wrote Flagstaff Mayor Becky Daggett in a statement.
The civil lawsuit accuses Buckwald and the city of Flagstaff of negligence. In the third of three accusations, the suit states that Buckwald "was aware of a known or obvious risk that was so great and substantial that it was highly probable that serious harm would follow, and he proceeded in conscious and unreasonable disregard of the consequences."
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