NEW ORLEANS – A retired NOPD officer has a new goal after being injured hitting a pothole in front of his old duty station.
Retired New Orleans Police Sergeant Darryl Dean was driving down Moss Street when his car hit a water-filled pothole. Ironically, the crater was in front of the site of his former police station.
"I started off in the old police station, 1700 Moss," Dean said. "I'm driving down the street this morning, towards DeSaix, and there was a pothole. I was unable to avoid it."
Dean is now disabled, and said hitting the pothole hurt his back, and damaged the car.
"It jarred me,” said Dean. “I could tell the vehicle, the front end alignment is off."
When he called 911, he saw what the police manpower shortage means as he waited.
"The incident happened at about 7:15-7:20," Dean said. "He arrived on the scene, he got the call somewhere around 8:24."
Neighbors know about the pothole all too well.
"They hit it every day, for the last two years," Eli Reynolds explained about how often vehicles hit the hole.
When WWL-TV came out to do this story, we saw several near accidents. Reynolds works in the area.
"We don't see it sometimes, and when we hit it, we get a big jar in the front end," Reynolds said.
The pothole is anywhere from about six inches to almost a foot deep below the surface. That's enough to damage a car if it hits it at 35 mph. Dean is not only worried about that, but also the potential for accidents.
WWL-TV contacted the City's Department of Public Works, asking them to fill the pothole as quickly as possible.
"It's real dangerous, because if you have traffic coming from both ways, and someone tries to avoid it, we're going to end up with someone in the bayou," Dean worried.
A city spokeswoman said the Pothole Killer will be at the site tomorrow or Friday, weather permitting.