I wish this surprised me. It doesn't.
I had the fire department hit me once. My powerchair took the damage for me and left me unharmed. It was entirely their fault and I had a witness who came running over to see if I were okay.
Basically crossing in front of the fire house, I always stopped, looked (for the flsshing warning lights) and listened (in addition to the lights they have alarms that they're exiting) before proceeding. Their station wagon zipped around the big fire truck so it wasn't even visible to me, hit me and kept right on going.
I had with a frightened yelp rolled forward. The a-hole firefighter who hit me claimed he was sure he missed because of that. Bull. And at the very least, he should have stopped to check. He was not on his way to an emergency because no lights or sirens on vehicle or firehouse as he did that.
Getting the village to repair (they refused to replace even though repairing cost as much as replacing and I did not feel up to court to sue) was an experience. I wound up even talking to the mayor. This was a few years ago and I do not think they would have done it without the witness. Without the knowledge that oh boy the stink if this old lady sued for that.
I should have sued but who needs the hassle let alone the local news making a circus out of it.
The thing that truly disturbs me is what if that had been a kid. The fire house is on a corner. On the corner across the street and next to it is a popular convenience store kids are always running to for a soda, ice cream or candy. It could very well have been a kid.
I should have sued but it was so not worth it and, of course, transportation to court would have been a problem. This was before Covid - about a year before - and those had not yet gone to Zoom.
