Deshane Levere was counting the blocks before she could make it home to bed. It was a summer night at 3 a.m. She’d been at a family gathering and was a designated driver.
Now, with her stepdaughters and another passenger safely aboard, she hit the gas at a green light in Syracuse, New York.
Three blocks from home, she thought .
Out of nowhere, a police cruiser hurtled down the avenue, despite the red light commanding traffic to stop. The police officer slammed into Levere’s four-door sedan, ripping off her rear bumper and sending her car careening.
Video by Tina MacIntyre-Yee, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle; Compiled by Kyle Slagle, USA TODAY Network
Why didn’t she see or hear the cruiser coming? The police officer had not turned on his lights and sirens, she would later learn.
Searing pain enflamed her neck and spine. These were the first moments of the agony that would haunt her over the next decade — spreading through her back, her shoulder, her arms. Neither pain medications nor strenuous physical therapy would give her much relief.