In an initial response to the revelations, which were published in The Pine Cone Feb. 14, Pacific Grove Police Chief Cathy Madalone — who was hired after most of the accidents occurred — posted a message on Facebook Feb. 20 that said there’s nothing wrong with the department’s practices. According to a Monterey resident who saw the story but did not want her name used in this story, a PGPD supervisor told her some of the department’s officers are not trained to investigate vehicle accidents.
In response to that claim, police administrative services manager Jocelyn Francis told The Pine Cone that, while sworn officers who graduated from California police academies were formerly required to undergo additional training to investigate traffic collisions, the requirement no longer exists.

P.G. Cops May Go Back To School

Just like parking all day downtown.

 – In January 2019, a 68-year-old woman ran through a stop sign on Laurel Avenue, struck a father and his two children who were in a pickup truck headed down Forest Avenue, and then crashed her  Lexus into the front of Pacific Grove Hardware. Although the woman caused more than $10,000 dollars in property damage, and numerous firefighters and police officers had to respond to the crash, Pacific Grove Police told The Pine Cone at the time that they did not cite her.
–  In March 2018 at about 1:45 a.m., a man on Short Street was driving a Toyota pickup truck when he slammed into a driver in a Volkswagen sedan traveling on Cedar. Though the police said the Toyota driver was at fault in the accident, which wrecked the VW but didn’t injure anyone, police did not issue him a citation.
–  In January 2018, a Pacific Grove man driving a GMC Sierra truck crashed  into four parked vehicles on the 700 block of Lighthouse Avenue, causing thousands of dollars in damage. Though the driver told police he was reaching for a beverage when he swerved into the cars, police did not give him a ticket.
– In November 2019, a 15-year-old girl was walking in the crosswalk at Sunset and 19th and was struck by a car whose female driver didn’t see her. She was injured and treated at Natividad Medical Center in Salinas. The driver was not given a ticket.
– In January, a male motorist struck a 15-year-old boy riding a bicycle in the crosswalk of Sunset and 19th. Pacific Grove police did not cite the driver for hitting the teen, who suffered minor injuries.
– In October 2019, a woman driving an older sedan plowed through a fence and three retaining walls at Lovers Point. She was not ticketed, either, police said, after attributing the incident to “mechanical failure.”

P.G. Cops Don’t Cite Drivers In Car Crashes