Deshane Levere was driving through an intersection at 3 a.m. on a summer night when, out of nowhere, a Syracuse Police cruiser slammed into her vehicle. The officer, Eric Gerace, was on his way to an emergency call that night in 2013 and had run a red light. He didn’t have his sirens or lights on. More than a decade later, Levere, 52, still suffers debilitating back pain. Neither pain medications nor strenuous physical therapy can provide much relief. After a drawn-out court battle with Syracuse Police, Levere’s case was tossed on appeal, leaving her with little recourse to offset the cost of a life-altering injury. The officer faced no discipline for the crash. The USA TODAY Network-New York, in partnership with the Newhouse School (newhousesu) and with support from Central Current (centralcurrent), investigated for the first time a 10-year span of police vehicle crashes in Syracuse and across the state. Our early data analysis shows that from 2013 to 2022, hundreds of collisions in...