Posted: 12/1/2004 1:12:34 PM EDT
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Highway Patrol Recommends Firing Tennessee Trooper Over Dead Driver Ticket ............ The Knoxville News Sentinel via Associated Press MARYVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper may be fired in connection with a Blount County case in which a dead man was cited for traffic violations. Another trooper has been cleared of wrongdoing in the case, the highway patrol said. Troopers Rick Harmon and Stephen Parsley were placed on paid administrative leave in October after evidence surfaced that a man who was killed in an accident was issued traffic citations 10 days after he died. Parsley, who issued the traffic tickets, has been recommended for termination by Safety Commissioner Fred Phillips. Harmon, the officer who investigated the accident, has been reinstated and is back on duty, according to Beth Denton, Safety Department spokeswoman. A court clerk discovered the citations, which prompted an audit into tickets in the area. Authorities haven't commented on any motive for issuing a citation after a driver died. A termination hearing scheduled Wednesday for Parsley has been postponed, Denton said. The hearing is a standard procedure in the firing of any state employee, she said. Any criminal charges, Denton said, would come from the Blount County District Attorney's office, which requested that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation look into the case. The TBI said it doesn't know how long the investigation might continue. In my agency patrol cops investigate the traffic collision, and submit the reports to the traffic office. the report includes the primary collision factor, and which driver was at fault. The traffic office then mails out a notice of violation (ticket) to the driver most at fault. I dont know what type of safegaurds we have in place to make sure we dont mail a cite to a dead person. |
doesnt specify what traffic citations or if they were related to the incident... could have been another cop making up tickets out of his computer or reports he had lying around to fill his quota or soemthing... |
Not if it was issued in the manner my agency issued citations following accidents. They are mailed out to the at fault driver weeks after the collission. By a secretary who has only read the last paragraph of the report. |
What makes this perjury? If the guy committed the violation it's not perjury. Maybe the trooper didn't know he was dead when he wrote the ticket. He may have died later at the hospital. Tickets are also important because it shows who is at fault. In a civil suit the injured party will bring into evidence the traffic tickets as evidence of criminal/negligent driving on the part of whoever got the ticket. Even though the guy was dead, the ticket can be used in a civil trial by the other guy who was injured - or his surviving family members. |
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What are they supposed to do call and ask people if they are still alive before mailing out the tickets? Hello. Mr. Smith? Yes. Hi. This is Trooper Fife. I am about to mail you a citation. Can you verify that you are not deceased? Uh...wait a min...I...there...I just died. |
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The face sheet of the TC report probubly stated it was a fatal accident, and driver #1 was killed. Whoever mailed out the notice of violation probubly only read the last paragraph of the report, determining fault. Driver 1 at fault, mail Driver 1 a ticket. Oops, Driver 1 died in the accident...his familiy is gonna be pissed! |
There was obviously more to the incident then is indicated in the above article. In any case my answer was to a hypothetical question. I don't disagree with what you stated but I can pretty much guarantee that something was out of the ordinary for the Trooper to have been brought up on charges and possibly subject to some criminal action. |
There was obviously more to the incident then is indicated in the above article. |
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Google is your friend. He issued the tickets for violations that occurred 10 days after the driver was killed in a car that was demolished. It sounds like he was just working his numbers and got caught. "The clerk discovered that Harmon had issued several citations to an Alcoa man after he investigated a crash on U.S. 411 South on Sept. 16. The man died in the pre-dawn hours on Sept. 17. According to court documents, Harmon's charges were later ``abated by death.'' "Parsley then filed citations with the court on Oct. 4 regarding five more charges against the same man -- speeding, failure to have a Tennessee driver license, seat belt violation, registration violation and failure to provide proof of insurance. Those offenses allegedly occurred at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 27 on U.S. 411 South not far from the scene of the Sept. 16 accident." "According to the citation form, the vehicle Parsley allegedly stopped was the same car demolished in the Sept. 16 crash. The form was signed by Parsley and allegedly signed by the man killed 10 days earlier." www.thedailytimes.com/sited/story/html/179637 |
| There was guy who shot himself and commited suicide in front of the police station. It was snowy and cold. The meter ran out and the meter maids kept giving him parking tickets. I think he got a total of 3. Then someone noticed there was a dude frozen stiff in there. This happened near my dads store. The dude was there for like 2 days. Then the shit hit fan and media decended like locusts. |
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I knew a Highway Patrol Sgt who called the officer investigating a fatal collision, and ordered him to cite the deceased driver because he caused the wreck. When the investigating officer was so instructed, he made damn sure that this sgt (acting LT) was aware that Driver1 was deceased. The sgt responded that he didn't care and to cite him anyway. Some people actually do it on purpose. |
Yes that happens all the time and is OK. You just can't swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that a violation occurred 10 days after the driver was killed in a car that was totaled and not drivable. |
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Issuing the tickets to an at-fault driver involved in a wreck even if they die as a result seems legal, although definitely not compassionate. I could see how the driver's estate would bear the burden of (a) defending the charge or (b) paying a fine. Not to mention that insurance claim adjusters will not pay out a claim against one of their insured parties unless that party has been issued a citation by the police, whether or not it is dismissed, paid or resolved due to their death. I wouldn't ever issue one, but if that driver was at fault I'd make damn sure it was crystal clear in the report just so the insurance companies had nothing to slow up the claim process. ETA... it's possible the "additional" charges resulted from the original crash and were issued later, and the officer put the wrong date on them. I wouldn't think that's the case though because if it was, I'm sure he wouldn't have ended up at a termination hearing. |
