PELHAM – A resident will ask the Select Board on Wednesday to investigate what he claims were inaccurate details in an accident report written by Police Chief Gary Thomann that allowed the town to fraudulently collect $2,100 from an insurance payout.
Andre Ryerson, of Gulf Road, said Monday that he will meet with the board at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Rhodes Building to voice his concerns about the accident report and describe what he believes was information that was fabricated in the report on the Nov. 30, 2010 crash.
Ryerson contends that the van he was driving on Amherst Road sustained minor damage when it went off the road that day.
“I destroyed no property except little saplings on the edge of the field,” Ryerson said.
But the report for the accident, completed by Thomann, shows that the vehicle sustained extensive damage to its front end, passenger side and undercarriage, and that two guardrail posts were flattened in the area of 115 Amherst Road.
“I can say two cement poles were broken,” said Thomann, recalling his response to the crash.
More than five years later, Ryerson argues that the accident report did not accurately reflect the damage – and was used by the town to get $2,100 from his insurance company to pay for new posts.
The matter only came to light after Ryerson recently examined his renewal sheet for Encompass Insurance and saw that his driving history included responsibility for the 5 ½-year old crash and a $2,100 payout.
With photos of his van taken this month, Ryerson said he will present evidence that the crash report was inaccurate.
“The car is flawless and only one post has been replaced on Amherst Road,” Ryerson said. “Did Encompass pay $2,100 for one post or, as the chief claims, for two posts?”
Thomann said the report he wrote was truthful and that it is too late for Ryerson to challenge its contents.
“I can’t change an accident report six years later,” Thomann said.
Thomann added that during the intervening years the road has been reconstructed and new guardrails installed.
While someone in town government may have sought the insurance money, it was not the Police Department, according to Thomann. “We never filed a claim for it,” he said.
Ryerson said he will ask the Select Board to investigate what happened and demand that the Police Department be required to immediately provide accident reports to any driver deemed responsible for a crash, so any wrong information can be changed immediately.
Ryerson also asks that Pelham refund any money it received from Encompass related to the crash to avoid potential litigation.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
