UPDATE: The Arkansas State Police Commission ruled unanimously to reinstate Trooper Andrew Rhew. Read on for David Koon’s dispatches from the hearing throughout the day.
Caught after the Commission’s decision came in, Arkansas State Police commander Col. JR Howard said “The commission has spoken, and we will abide by their decision,” adding that the ASP will work to make sure Rhew makes a seamless transition back into the organization. Asked if the Commission’s decision is an indictment of electronic data over old-fashioned crash reconstruction techniques, Howard said: “I think it shows that even the experts still disagree on things.”
Today’s dispatches from the Commission hearing room:
An appeal hearing is underway today at the Arkansas State Police Commission for Andrew Rhew, the state trooper who was fired (twice) as a result of the fatal crash in which his patrol car collided in Manila with a car driven by Vickie Freemyer, a Blytheville teacher, while he was rushing to a call in Osceola.
The state police said today that a black box in Rhew’s car recorded the trooper going 103 mph in a 45 mph zone with no lights or sirens. Rhew was en route to make a call to arrest someone with an outstanding warrant at a driver’s license testing station in Osceola.
Rhew’s counsel, Robert Newcomb, told the commission that Freemyer was at fault for the crash.
“The accident is almost a red herring in that she didn’t have the right away, was supposed to stop and pulled out right in front of him,” he said in his opening statement.
Newcomb said he would present four witnesses who disagree with what the black box reported and 26 state troopers who will testify that they don’t turn on their lights or sirens when going on calls for a number of reasons.
A lot of troopers speed without their lights and sirens on, Newcomb said. “Are we going to fire the majority of the state police?”
According to state police, the impact of Knew’s trooper car on Freemyer’s Toyota sedan pushed Freemyer’s passenger door inside the vehicle to where it touched the steering wheel.
Freemyer’s vehicle was moved by a wrecker before Trooper Bobby Clemence, a member of the State Police accident reconstruction scene, arrived, so he wasn’t able to determine final rest, which he said is crucial in determining speed in an accident. The best estimate he could offer, Clemence said, was 59 miles per hour for a minimum speed.
Asked if the damage done to Freemyer’s vehicle was consistent with a 103-mph-impact, Clemence said he thought it was consistent with a 59-60 mph range. He said he wasn’t aware of the what the black box had recorded until months later.
The appeal is likely to extend into tomorrow.
UPDATE: In the second phase of the appeal hearing, Retired Trooper Lt. Pete Westerman, also of the State Police crime scene reconstruction team, said that Trooper Clemence figured his crash data based on the measure of linear momentum, which only works if you’ve got every detail correct. Two problems in Clemence’s findings, according to Westerman: Clemence estimated the weight of the trooper car instead of finding an accurate reading and didn’t take into account the two to four feet of mud in the ditch where the two cars ended up. “Mud and water is kind of like a glove catching a ball,” Westerman said.