Detroit is next stop in Vegas crash probe
| By Justin Hill The Salt Lake Tribune |
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Police investigating the accident in which a Nevada highway patrolman crashed his cruiser into a car Feb. 19, killing four Utahns, plan to travel to Michigan today to gather computer data from the trooper’s vehicle. Another tragic case that lacks the information needed to make a quick and just determination. The police have a situation on their hands where they may have an officer who far exceeded his reasonable authority and may have careless killed and injured citizens. On the other hand, the officer may have been acting reasonably and within his authority. What to do, what to say? Well going to Ford is the right thing for this department to do, but how clumsy, expensive and sad. For much less than the cost of the investigation they could have had a simple passive GPS recorder in the patrol car that would have nearly instantly give them the answers they need to decide how the installation should proceed. How much better if they had “owned” the information and been able to make it public from the beginning. here’s what they are probably going to be able to get from Ford. There’s a computer associated with the airbags in the patrol car that will show the speed at the time of the crash and either from the air bag computer or the controller for the car’s anti-lock brakes they’ll also be able to tell how soon before the crash and at what speed the officer applied his brakes. None of this info, though, is going to tell much about where the officer was for seconds or minutes before the crash .. where did he start driving, what roads did he follow, how hard did he accelerate, did he swerve in and out of traffic, a thousand and one questions that might give very good clues as to whether this was a simple tragedy or a crime. Further, by having to go to a third-party they introduce all sorts of questions regarding chain of evidence custody, how much information has to be provided on discovery to the defense attorney and a host of other legal questions that might not even need to be asked, if they were investigating from known ground. Let’s look at two possibilities. First, that the officer was driving wildly and erratically and probably, at the end of a trial, will be deemed guilty. If the police chief and city attorney knew this from day one, in minutes after the accident, going to trial would look dumb. It will cost the city a fortune and the publicity attached will drive the police liability through the roof. A prime rule in any high stakes lawsuit is, if you _know_ you’re going to lose, settle as quietly, as cheaply and as quickly as possible. On the other hand, what if the officer’s actions proved highly reasonable? Suppose his speed was much less than alleged? What if the city attorney could sit down with the plaintiff’s attorney and show the evidence that would be presented. Unless he or she is a poor excuse for an attorney, the same rules would apply. Settle as expeditiously and as quietly as possible. No court judgment will even bring people back from the dead, but a lengthy court case, especially if lost at the end, will only make a terrible event even more tragic. For the cost of a unit that costs less than a couple hours of attorney time and costs nothing to run, and will outlive a number of patrol cars, the only alternative is more expense, heartache and wasted resources. How sad. |