[kipperfan]

Didn't read the whole thread so hopefully I don't repeat too much, and I also hope I don't come across as a dick, but there is 0% chance of any liability being placed on that police car, either from an insurance company or from a court of law, if something were to somehow ever get that far. The bottom line is the drivers who r/e the vehicles in front of them were following too close. In this case it happened to be a cop pulling a u-turn that caused the accident, but it just as easily could have been a car slamming on the brakes to stop for a dog on the road (or 12,000 other similar scenarios) that caused the same accident. Reality is there are numerous situations which require rapid and immediate braking, every driver has to be conscience of that and understand the distance they need to leave in order to prevent getting into a situation such as the one described in OP.

The cop was fully within his rights to do what he did, if he needs to make a u-turn he can do so, the law doesn't apply to him (when responding to a call) like it does for the rest of us. The only way the cop would have been somehow liable in this situation is if in making his u-turn he impacted a vehicle coming the opposite direction, the fact that cars behind him (and the fact the first guy was able to stop in time and not hit the cop is very telling, that alone tells me the others were following too close, and given the extent of the impact reported, way too close) were unable to stop after he applied his brakes is not even close to being something he could (or would) be held liable for.