Sgt. J.T. Hoar suffered a minor head injury in the crash on Feb. 16 after driving the city owned 2007 Ford into two parked vehicles, with the owner in one of the vehicles.

Jo C. Goode Herald News Staff Reporter @jgoodeHN

FALL RIVER — The city has received notice for a $100,000 claim related to a February traffic accident where an off-duty Fall River police sergeant crashed his department issued vehicle on North Main Street in February.

Sgt. J.T. Hoar suffered a minor head injury in the crash on Feb. 16 after driving the city owned 2007 Ford into two parked vehicles, with the owner in one of the vehicles.

Providence attorney Frank L. Arabian filed the claim on behalf of Fall River resident Frank M. Stanley Jr., for damages for injuries he allegedly sustained in the crash as well losses, including his 2006 Ford pick-up truck that was struck by Hoar while he was sitting in the drivers seat.

Arabian did not immediately return a request for comment, but in his letter to the city clerk, he indicated that Stanley “sustained bodily injuries and has and will to incur substantial medical expenses.”

Massachusetts torte law in employee negligence cases against a municipality in most cases is capped at $100,000 and the city has up to six months to pay the claim, reject or reach a settlement.

“We’ll treat this like any other claim,” said Corporation Counsel Joseph Macy.

Stanley is claiming $18,000 in property damage and the bodily injury portion of the claim is outstanding.

“He’ll have to submit the claim and then we’ll go from there,” Macy said.

Hoar, who works in the professional standards unit, was traveling north on North Main Street at 5:46 p.m. near Odd Street and driving a police Ford sedan.

According to an accident report, Hoar claimed that two takeout food containers placed on the front seat began to slide off and when he attempted to grab them he swerved the vehicle, hitting the parked truck and an unoccupied Hyundai.

The owner of the second vehicle, Ashleigh Cordeira of Tiverton, has also filed a claim with the city for $2,500.

Last year Hoar was one of two Fall River police officers honored for their actions during a 2016 shootout in Tiverton where an 80-year-old man was shot and killed after shooting another man to death and brandishing a gun at police officers.

In March, Hoar’s brother, Fall River Police Officer Nicholas Hoar, was cleared by the Bristol County District Attorney’s office in a fatal shooting of a New Bedford man in the industrial park in November when the officer attempted to stop the man’s vehicle. Patrolman Hoar claimed the driver had hit him and attempted to drive away with him physically on the hood.

The district attorney’s office deemed the shooting was justified.

Email Jo C. Goode at jgoode@heraldnews.com