Trooper indicted in July 4 crash that killed 2 in Cannon Falls

Pioneer Press ^ | 12-31-14 | AP

[TurboZamboni]

RED WING, Minn. -- A Minnesota state trooper appeared in court Tuesday for the first time since being indicted on manslaughter charges in a Fourth of July crash that killed two people in Cannon Falls.

A Goodhue County grand jury indicted Scott Reps, 48, on two felony counts of second-degree manslaughter.

Reps was released on his own recognizance, the Post-Bulletin reported, and is due back in court Feb. 20.

He was indicted on Dec. 16, but the indictment was sealed until his court appearance. In addition to the two felony counts, he also faces one count of failure to drive with due care, a misdemeanor.

Reps was responding to a traffic accident involving a motorcyclist and a deer when a car driven by 78-year-old Norman Scott reportedly pulled out in front of the squad car. The trooper's squad car slammed into the driver's side.

Scott and his 79-year-old wife, Geneva Scott, died at the scene.

[Gaffer]

This site tried to download a PC Doctor application to my computer.

[Revelation 911]

A Goodhue County grand jury indicted Scott Reps, 48, on two felony counts of second-degree manslaughter.

Reps was released on his own recognizance,

you or I would be in jail

He was indicted on Dec. 16, but the indictment was sealed until his court appearance.

ours would be made public

In addition to the two felony counts, he also faces one count of failure to drive with due care, a misdemeanor.

Reps was responding to a traffic accident involving a motorcyclist and a deer when a car driven by 78-year-old Norman Scott reportedly pulled out in front of the squad car. The trooper's squad car slammed into the driver's side.

we are not being provided the full story - people don't get felony indictments for things like this unless there was negligence involved.

[momtothree]

Maybe I’m not reading the article correctly? If the man pulled out in front of the trooper, wouldn’t he be in violation? If the trooper was already responding to a motor vehicle accident, wouldn’t he have lights and sirens on? I wish articles would contain more info....

[TurboZamboni]

Of course we won’t get the whole story.

My guess is he was doing 100+ with no lights and siren or doing so without slowing at an intersection.

[Paladin2]

"According to witnesses heard sirens and saw the patrol car’s lights. The car carrying the couple pulled out of a parking lot and was struck on the driver’s side.

“The witnesses we spoke to told us they heard both lights and siren and we’ve had no information that would contradict that,” said Lt. Eric Roeske of the State Patrol.

The trooper, identified as Scott Repps of Rochester is a 28-year veteran is in serious condition with non-life threatening injuries. The State Patrol reported everyone was wearing their seat belts. The accident remains under investigation. Investigators will also be looking at dash cam video as well as surveillance video from a local business."

[nomad]

On the surface, sounds fishy. If the trooper was en route to a crash, didn`t he have his lights on? If so, then the old geezer should have yielded to an official vehicle with lights. In Ohio, if on a two lane you have to pull over and yield right of way to all official emergency response vehicles, cops, EMT, and fire/rescue squad. It`s only common sense and courtesy, how`d you like some careless a-hole crashing and interrupting your family member`s ambulance?

[GoldenPup]

Trooper indicted in July 4 crash that killed 2 in Cannon Falls

Based on the abbreviated article, this would seem to be more patent BS in the "People's Republic" of Minnesota. Watta bunch of MORONS!!

[CIB-173RDABN]

In my younger days I was a EMT and was an ambulance attendant (before the fire departments and paramedics). The truth is, emergency vehicles must obey all traffic lights and sirens are only to alert people to get out of your way, but you does not give you the right to speed, run stop signs, or red lights.

You can get away with fudging a bit, however, if you are involved in an accident while breaking a traffic law you would be held accountable.

As others pointed out, there is a lot of information missing from this story but the bottom line is, if the trooper was breaking traffic laws he may be found guilty.

[Uncle Miltie]

The most consistently dangerous drivers I see on the road are cops.

I know of a town in which no cop ever drives a single city block without violating the law.

I have seen many cops pull outrageous stunts endangering many people in order to give a ticket for 4 MPH over the speed limit.

Cops need to behave and drive reasonably and safely in order to retain or re-secure the good will of the people.

[HamiltonJay]

Agreed, this article offers nothing... their has to be more to this story but you sure aren’t getting it from this article.

[Senator_Blutarski]

The most consistently dangerous drivers I see on the road are cops.

While in a walk recently I saw a cop pass another car on the right by using the bicycle lane. He pulled into a convenience store just ahead of me, presumably to procure a donut. I asked him if he knew he had violated the law by using the bicycle lane to pass on the right where no vehicle lane was available. The overweight, 50 year old cop went ballistic and literally got in my face. I shook my head, smiled and went on my way.

[eastforker]

Since he was indicted by a grand jury the prosecuter pushed for this. It could be politics or a number of things. Just speculating but since the trooper also went to hospital maybe they found something in his blood that determined maybe he should not have been driving.

[deport]

The Minnesota State Patrol identified the two occupants of a car that a state trooper
collided with in Cannon Falls, Minn. as Norman L. Scott, 78, and his wife, Geneva M.
Scott, 79, both from Cannon Falls.

The State Patrol said Reps' squad car hit the Scotts' 2012 Ford Taurus Friday afternoon
as it pulled out of a parking lot onto 65th Street at Goodhue County Road 24, on the
south end of Cannon Falls.

The trooper, Scott R. Reps, was responding to a traffic accident involving a collision
between a motorcycle and a deer on Minnesota 60 when he T-boned the Scotts' vehicle.

The Ford Crown Victoria squad car had its lights and sirens activated when it hit the Scotts'
vehicle, State Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske said at a Friday evening news conference at
the Cannon Falls Police Department.

Read More

[TurboZamboni]

You’re correct.

We don’t know the situation and the story doesn’t give it.

He could have had lights and siren on,but if he was doing 100MPH over a hill near an intersection, lights and siren are no real warning.

[NorthstarMom]

I know 2 families in MN who lost their loved ones in accidents caused by a LEOs driving at high speeds. One was in the early 90’s-the deputy didn’t want the drunk in his back seat to puke in his car so he was speeding and ran a red light at a major intersection...hit a car with an aunt taking her elementary aged nieces and nephew to pick out a puppy. The two youngest children died, the oldest barely survived-it was tragic. The family lost half their children that day.

The other was a father of 5 kids still in school. The police were chasing a local guy (they knew him and where he was headed)on a country highway. An RV for sale parked at the side of the road blocked the view around a curve and the LEO passed a vehicle and hit the van head on as the couple was returning from their oldest son’s football game. He was a respected leader in the community-the HS gym couldn’t hold everyone attending his funeral, buildings named after him, etc.

Both accidents were absolutely needless, yet I don’t remember much happening to either of the LEO’s that caused them.

[Utilizer]

This site tried to download a PC Doctor application to my computer.

1. AdBlock Plus.

2. Ghostery.

Both are your friends.

Or, do what I do: run Linux as your OS. DOS/Windows(tm) applications do not run in that environment, so even if someone besides you is operating your computer and downloads something unwanted, no executable (adware, malware, spyware, worm, virus, or trojan) will work, not even if someone deliberately tries to get it to run.

Especially helpful if you have young family members who think it is a good idea to download "free" screensavers or mouse pointers -or click on interesting online ads or informational promos.

[Gaffer]

MSE stopped it. That’s how I became aware of it. ABP has caused other problems for me in the past so I stopped using it.

[Utilizer]

Having had a friend accidentally centre-punch a car that backed out of a driveway one evening without its lights on right in front of him, I think I would like to find out the whole story before arriving at any conclusions.

[Gaffer]

Having lights and sirens is not a carte blanche ticket to violate common sense and reasonable care. I’m guessing this officer was rightly tagged because he acted dangerously.

There have been other cases where accidents like this occurred for LEOs pursuing car thieves in high speed chases and innocent citizens have died.