Trooper crashes increased in 2009

GREENSBORO
Traffic accidents involving Highway Patrol troopers grew significantly last year over 2008, but officials say most were not preventable, the News & Record of Greensboro reported.

According to the Highway Patrol, troopers were involved in 360 crashes in 2009, up from 251 in 2008.
Of those, 248 crashes were classified as non-preventable in 2009; 166 received that classification in 2008. No figures for this year are available yet.

"We drive in a lot of inclement weather and road conditions, eight to 12 hours a day. It's different than the average person drives their car to and from work," said Sgt. Jeff Gordon, a spokesman for the Highway Patrol. "We are human and just like everybody else, things happen and we aren't immune to situations that can and do occur."

Against the backdrop of those crash statistics, troopers on Wednesday reconstructed an accident in Jamestown on Sunday in which a Highway Patrol cruiser and a car collided, killing the driver and one of three children in the car.

Sandra Allmond, 55 , and 11-year-old passenger Taylor Strange died after Allmond's Honda Accord was struck by a patrol car driven by Trooper J.D. Goodnight about 11:45 a.m.

Officials say Goodnight was traveling north on Business 85 when he clocked another vehicle headed south at 80 mph in a 50 mph zone.

Trooper Greg Ingram said Goodnight turned around in a median and headed south to pursue the vehicle with his blue lights on.

Officials said Allmond was trying to make a left turn onto River Road when she pulled her car into the path of the trooper's vehicle.

Two rear-seat passengers in the car, 11-year-old Elijah Allmond and Steven Strange, 9, were hospitalized. Goodnight was treated for cuts and bruises; he remains on paid injury leave.

Attempts to reach Allmond's family for comment were unsuccessful this week.

Gerald Allmond, Sandra Allmond's son, talked with television stations questioning Goodnight's actions in the crash. "She (Allmond) wasn't driving recklessly," he told WXII (Channel 12). "If there was an officer coming and he had lights and sirens on, she would have hesitated. She would have stopped. An 11 year-old lost her life because (Goodnight was) trying to catch a speeder going 35 mph over the limit."

He said the crash tore the front end off his mother's car. The trooper's speed is under investigation.

On Wednesday, as troopers reconstructed the crash, Gerald Allmond said he wanted answers and holds no grudge against the trooper.

"I am concerned about the speed. I'm having a hard time understanding that," he told WXII. "And that's what I hope to get out of this. I hope I can get clarifications as to what, how and why."

The Highway Patrol was involved in three crashes that involved deaths in 2009 and one in 2008. No figures are available yet for 2010.

Each crash involving a trooper undergoes a crash investigation. In the most serious cases, the case is forwarded to the respective county's district attorney for review to decide if charges should be filed against the officer. "If it's non-criminal, the information will be sent through our organization (for any possible internal discipline)," Gordon said.

Most of the time, troopers are not faulted. That includes crashes in which other drivers strike a trooper's vehicle or crashes attributed to bad weather.

Of the 360 crashes in 2009, 112 could have been prevented by the trooper, Gordon said. In 2008, 85 of the 251 trooper-involved accidents could have been prevented.

Any trooper who has a pattern of bad driving that resulted in crashes will undergo more training at the organization's driving training facility in Garner.

Of the 611 trooper-involved crashes in 2008 and 2009, 24 involved officers assigned to Troop D, a nine- county area that includes Guilford. "We drove 44 million miles last year and there's a lot of territory we cover," Gordon said.

Gordon said the last thing a trooper wants is to be involved in a crash that kills or seriously injures someone, like what happened in Jamestown.

"We don't want to cause harm to a bystander by any means. When we turn around on a speeder, we don't know what is occurring with that individual -- he could be impaired or he could have just committed a crime," Gordon said.

"It's not just a matter of writing a speeding ticket. There are more things involved than just a stop."