Liability claims cost Santa Fe millions to settle
The first time Donald Bell ran a red light in a city-owned vehicle and crashed into another motorist, the 83-year-old Senior Services Division employee told Santa Fe police “the sun was in his eyes and he did not notice the red light.”
The November 2016 accident, which happened on Cerrillos Road near Second Street around 4:30 in the afternoon, cost the city $1,000 to settle after the other motorist, a 38-year-old Santa Fe woman who was “extremely shaken” by the event, filed a claim alleging negligence.
Less than two years after the first crash, Bell again ran a red light. This time, he slammed a city-owned senior services transport van into a driver who had a green left-turn arrow. The June 2018 crash on St. Francis Drive and San Mateo Road was much more serious than the first.
Bell had three passengers, including Patsy Herrera, a 75-year-old disabled and legally blind woman who suffered internal bleeding and other injuries in the crash. Police said Bell shouldered the blame, admitting he was driving so fast “he just drove through the red traffic light.” The city paid a combined $50,000 to settle claims filed by Herrera and the other driver.
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