Posted on 03/13/2008 6:14:38 PM PDT by Mr. Brightside
No indictment in death of police officer
03/13/08
By Mike Santa Rita
After the death of Officer Scott Wheeler in June 2007, his photo was placed at the foot of a statue at county police headquarters. Family and colleagues of Howard County police Cpl. Scott Wheeler reacted with disappointment to a grand jury's March 5 decision not to indict a Columbia woman in connection with Wheeler's 2007 death as he worked a speeding detail near Savage.
"I think that the end result in terms of charges is in no way proportionate to the loss," Howard County Police Chief William McMahon said at a press conference March 6, in response to the grand jury's decision.
Wheeler, a six-year veteran of the department, was working on a speed enforcement detail on Route 32, near Savage, June 16, 2007, when he was struck by an automobile driven by Stephanie Latoya Grissom, 25, of Columbia, according to police.
At the time of the incident, Wheeler was attempting to flag Grissom's vehicle to the side of the road, police said.
Wheeler, of Millersville, died two days later of injuries he received in the accident.
On March 5, police served Grissom with citations for negligent driving and speeding after a grand jury declined to indict her on a charge of manslaughter by automobile in Wheeler's death, according to police.
Grissom could not be reached for comment.
Tracy Wheeler, Scott Wheeler's widow, echoed McMahon's sentiments in a prepared statement.
"While we knew this was possible, it is difficult to accept," she wrote of the grand jury's decision.
Manslaughter sought
Police and prosecutors asked the grand jury to indict Grissom on a single count of manslaughter by automobile March 5, said Wayne Kirwan, a spokesman for acting Howard County State's Attorney Dario Broccolino.
The jury "thought that the evidence did not reach the level of probable cause to charge," Kirwan said.
An eight-month investigation into the incident did not reveal why Grissom -- who police said was driving 71 miles an hour in a 55-mph zone at the time of the accident -- failed to see Wheeler until it was too late, McMahon said.
"At some point she did see him and took some evasive action so as not to strike him," McMahon said, adding that Wheeler behaved correctly in trying to flag down Grissom. "There are certain things about this that we may never know."
Following Wheeler's death, McMahon ordered his officers to cease stepping into traffic to pull over speeding cars on roads in which the speed limit is 35 miles per hour or higher.
That policy remains in effect, McMahon said March 6, adding that he still considers the procedure of officers stepping into the road to flag speeding traffic effective, but did not know if he would rescind his order banning it.
He added that he was grateful for having had the opportunity to get to know Wheeler's family during the course of the investigation.
"It's difficult to investigate any death but when it's the death of a fellow officer it's especially difficult," McMahon said. "Maybe some good things come out of very bad things. I feel like I have some new very good friends."
>>Following Wheeler’s death, McMahon ordered his officers to cease stepping into traffic to pull over speeding cars on roads in which the speed limit is 35 miles per hour or higher.<<
I’m very sorry for this cop and his family and co-workers.
But damn, they have to be told not to step into high speed traffic?
So... Is this what the officer did?
Darwin Award comes to mind, but I'll refrain from further comments in respect of a fallen officer.
You’ve never seen the speed trap cop standing in the middle of the highway?
I was traveling through the mountain highways of Kentucky and remember coming over a hill to see a cop standing on the dotted white line in between two lanes of 70 mph traffic.
He would flag down speeders to pull over and radio to his buddy in the car down the road who would write the tickets.
They had a dozen cars lined up for tickets.
This officer stepped into a 55 MPH ZONE to flag down a speeder.
Maybe they should be issued bumper-proof vests.
When I used to drive commercial truck, the Ohio cops would do this against the trucks. You’d see three trucks pulled over by one “supertrooper” who’d point at a truck and think we’d jam on the brakes for him.
Always they’d start this crap at the end of the month quota time.
Sounds like common sense to me, but I see cops jumping out into traffic all the time now for the most minor of offenses.
If the victim wasn’t a cop, I doubt the driver would have been charged.
Probably a good idea, that.
Welcome to Hillary’s Gestapo Village - where every accident is a crime.
*nodding* true, true...
So... Is this what the officer did?
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In a previous posting on this death it was stated by multiple freepers from that area that this is a spot where speedtraps are a near daily occurance ,, a higher speed road (65mph) feeds a slower speed road (55mph) that has a long long downhill section...
I’ve had it with the police distorting the law into a cash cow so they can all drive shiny new Dodge Charger SRT-8 police cars and feed their overtime budget..
I had a traffic cop lie in court just a week ago against me ,, I filed a complaint with Internal affairs and they did something unbelievable ... the investigation was assigned to the Seargant/supervisor of the officer I was complaining about and to top it off he was in command of the detail that my complaint addressed (can anybody say conflict of interest?)... Cops deserve no respect and have no credibility with the public at large,, judicial notice that gives their testilying the ultimate trump card over hard evidence presented by you is just the most visible problem... enough ranting for now ... (the stupid schmucks think they ended it ... it’s not over ‘til I say it’s over!)
Always they’d start this crap at the end of the month quota time.
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Be nice ,, we all know cops don’t have quotas....
BUT IF PUSHED HARD ENOUGH UNDER OATH THEY WILL ADMIT THAT THEIR RAISES DEPEND ON THEM MEETING THEIR “GOALS AND OBJECTIVES” ON THEIR PERFORMANCE REVIEWS... AND THE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES HAVE “EXPECTED” NUMBERS ...
Wink-wink-nudge-nudge...
I am so sick of speed traps. These cops need to be out catching criminals or better yet preventing crime rather then putting themselves and others in danger.
I was riding up coast highway here in Ecinitas about 5 months ago. The speed limit is 40 (for no reason). I was the only car in sight on the road in either direction. It was 1.30 in the afternoon on a bright sunny day. I was going 52 and this fool steps out in front of me with a radar gun flagging me over.
John
Often you'll see a Trooper standing there in the middle of the fast lane waving over speeders.
Scares the hell out of me for their sake everytime I see it.
Wonder what Darwin would say? Wonder if these cops have reproduced?
I’ve never seen law enforcement stand in the middle of a freeway to flag people over for speeding... Sound really dumb for all the obvious reasons...
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