Letter to the editor: Ziccarelli should pay for repair costs

Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli claims her accident was “minor” — $33,000 in damages to a $33,000 vehicle (“Westmoreland DA crash racks up nearly $33,000 in SUV repairs,” Feb. 16, TribLIVE). Boy, I would hate to see her idea of a major accident.

I am a former county employee who drove vehicles for the employer for 27 years, never a take-home vehicle. I was told that as the driver I was responsible for an accident that was my fault. The employer insurance would only cover the deductible for the other vehicle, and it was up to the other driver to pursue my insurance for the rest needed for repairs. Thankfully I was never involved in any accidents. Once something clipped my driver’s-side mirror while my vehicle was parked on Main Street in Greensburg, cracking the plastic. I turned it in the next day. I was reprimanded for not folding the mirror in so this wouldn’t have happened, and for not noticing it that day.

Ziccarelli was coming home from “assisting a grieving friend.” Her office says she is on call “at all hours” and “must be able and prepared to respond to any major incident. The repair costs after the $2,500 deductible should fall on her personal insurance, not the county’s, for she was driving, not the employer.

David Kolenc

Smithton