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At around 6 p.m. on May 20, 1995, Alexander Flax had just eased his Toyota Corolla through an intersection in downtown Washington when the tail car of a Secret Service motorcade ran a red light and slammed into him. Washington, D.C., traffic regulations and United States Secret Service policy required vehicles in the front and rear of presidential motorcades to proceed through intersections with their lights flashing and sirens blaring. But several uniformed officers say that former President Clinton didn't like the sirens and the lights and often yelled at motorcade agents who insisted on using them. Acceding to the president's wishes, Secret Service executives told lead motorcade agents not to use the lights and sirens but to stop at red lights. Some agents disregarded that option as a security risk, and the issue became a source of tension among officers and agents, sources say, because no one knew what to do from day to day. Flax's attorneys filed a claim with the U.S. attorney's office with regards to his injuries as a result of the motorcade accident.