WALKERTOWN, NC – The man who was rescued by a state trooper after a high speed chase ended in a fiery crash in Walkertown in still in the hospital after having surgery from his injuries.
Charges are still pending against Demareo Rivers, according to the NC Highway Patrol.
Troopers say the chase started Monday morning, when they tried to pull Rivers over for a registration violation.
They chased him from Stokes County to Walkertown where he crashed his car head on with an SUV on Pine Hall Road.
That crash caused two other cars including a highway patrol car to collide.
Meanwhile, Rivers car caught fire and was fully involved, according to Sgt. Eric Naylor with NC Highway Patrol.
Trooper N.R. White was hurt in the crash but was able to rescue Rivers from his burning car.
But before that crash, there was another crash involving a different state trooper, just a few miles down the road.
A state trooper was responding to the chase -- when he collided with a mother who was riding with her son driving at the intersection of Highway 66 and Highway 158.
Naylor says neither the mother or son aren't being charged criminally, but at this point, it’s not clear who will have to pay for the damage to the cars.
So 2 Wants To Know, what are your rights if you're involved in a crash with an emergency vehicle?
We found out that the answer to that question is – very little.
There are about three pages of laws on what you should do when an emergency vehicle has its sirens and lights on while responding to an emergency.
If you’re involved in an accident with an emergency vehicle, attorney Joel Oakley says your insurance is probably going to have to foot the bill for your car and theirs, not to mention medical bills, too!
"If a government vehicle is in the course of their job, there may be immunity and they may never be held responsible,” said Oakley. “We've had that problem in a lot of situations where people have been injured as a result of car chases. There is immunity there and you may have to foot your own injuries."
Oakley says the law is written to protect emergency responders.
If a lawyer can prove that you displayed any type of negligence of the laws, if you're even one percent at fault,
Oakley says you can be the one held responsible.
Oakley says it can be a tough pill to swallow -- but that doesn't mean you should just take it.
“I would highly advise you to get opinions from multiple lawyers. Don't give up and assume you don't have rights. Don't assume that you are automatically going to be held at fault,” said Oakley. “Sometimes, insurance companies will want to strip you of those rights but you have a right to fight back."
Right now there are conflicting reports on who caused Monday’s crash at the intersection of Highway 66 and Highway 158.
Sgt. Naylor says the trooper did everything right -- he stopped in the intersection, looked both ways and then kept going.
However, the family in the other car says that's not exactly what happened.
The case is still under investigation.