Posted on 04/21/2004 11:25:09 PM PDT by kenth
Former U.S. Rep. Wes Watkins will likely face a misdemeanor charge in the fatal car crash that killed a couple and left five children without parents, the district attorney said Tuesday.
District Attorney Rob Hudson said he will likely charge Watkins with misdemeanor negligent homicide this week if the trooper’s written report of Monday’s accident matches the verbal account given Hudson.
The charge would carry a maximum of one year in jail, but Hudson said the facts and Watkins’ remorse make it doubtful he would seek any jail time for the former seven-term congressman.
“You’re basically looking at a probation type of scenario,” Hudson said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Watkins was driving on U.S. 177 Monday morning when his minivan hit a 1992 Ford Taurus that had stopped to take a left turn. The collision pushed the car into oncoming traffic, and it was struck by a tanker truck and a 1999 Chevrolet.
Two passengers in the car, Brian Cullen, 32, and Ardith Cullen, 34, were killed. Two of the Cullen’s five children, both young daughters, received minor injuries. Watkins and the tractor-trailer’s driver were not hurt. The driver of the Chevrolet was treated and released for a leg injury.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol accident report said Watkins’ “inattentive driving” caused the accident.
Watkins told the Stillwater News-Press that he never saw a brake light or a turning signal on the Cullen’s car.
“I tried to swerve to my right or the west side to avoid hitting the car, but didn’t quite make it,” Watkins told the paper in a story published Tuesday.
Watkins did not immediately return a phone call from The AP.
Watkins said he left after talking with troopers for about 30 minutes. He then picked up Perkins city manager Jack Rosson and took him to a meeting in Shawnee.
“I have always been a defensive driver,” said Watkins, 65. “This is the first accident I have ever been involved with myself. My thoughts and prayers go out for the family who lost loved ones.”
The Cullens had recently moved to Stillwater from Arkansas to attend Oklahoma State University, neighbor E.E. Allinson said. Brian Cullen was a freshman and Ardith Cullen was a senior, the university said.
“I do know that Congressman Watkins is extremely remorseful and distraught over this,” Hudson said. “And on the other side of the fence you have instant orphans. It’s just a tragedy all around.”
The Cullen’s three other children were at school when the crash happened. They were taken to Arkansas to be with relatives, said Steve Davis, principal of Stillwater Middle School, where one was a student.
Davis would said he did not know where in Arkansas they were taken. He would not give the children’s names, ages, or sexes. Attempts to reach the Cullen family have not been successful.
Hudson said he expected to receive the highway patrol’s report later Tuesday or Wednesday. He said he spoke by phone with trooper Drew Hamilton, who is investigating the accident, and said the description Hamilton gave indicated a misdemeanor negligent homicide charge would be warranted.
Watkins secured federal funding in his last year in Congress to widen U.S. 177 to five lanes including a turn lane. Work on the project is set to begin this summer.
“This accident occurred on the road that I spent three years getting the money to put the five lanes on to prevent exactly what happened,” Watkins told the News-Press.
Watkins represented Oklahoma’s 3rd District in the U.S. House from 1977 to 1991 and again from 1996 to 2002. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1990 and 1994.
Has to be a Democrat, right??
Actually, he was both a Democrat and a Republican.
I went to school with Wes at Okie State. He was the leading campus politician of his day and, when he graduated, he went to work for Cong. Carl Albert (D-OK) as a staffer in his office.
Albert was from MacAlester and represented SE Oklahoma, or "Little Dixie" as it is known -- where, even today, the yellow-dog Democrat still dwells. Albert, known to be a heavy drinker, rose thru the ranks of the House, eventually becoming Speaker. But, as memory serves, sometime in the seventies his liver (and inability to stay sober in public) forced him to retire.
By this time, Wes himself had risen thru the ranks, becoming Albert's Chief of Staff. And he stepped directly into his boss' old job, winning the seat easily.
Then came the Reagan Revolution...and an increasingly Republican Oklahoma. Wes, ever the astute politician, read the tea leaves...and jumped ship. He stood for re-election as a Republican, winning easily -- and kept the seat as long as he wanted. Though it was necessary to re-draw the district, sending a tendril up to Stillwater, so that Wes could a.) be assured his seat ad infinitum and b.) move back to Stillwater to live.
Wes wasn't a friend of mine -- more of an adversary, actually -- but he isn't a bad guy. Just a hack politician whose job it was to get his boss re-elected, then get himself re-elected, bringing home the pork in sufficient quantity so as to achieve that end.
I'm sure he deeply regrets what's happened and I'm sorry for him.
Bad things happen to good people, and people react differently. His reaction is within normal parameters.
A friend of mine attended culinary school the morning that his criminal case was being brought before the grand jury. I was there when his lawyer called him to tell him that he was no-billed (the case was bogus, and the accuser only served probation for filing a false report). He pretty much passed out for a couple of minutes, and then continued with class.
Humans tend to move forward with the normal things in their lives when terrible things happen. It's a survival reflex, I supose.
Prayers lifted for the family that experienced the loss, and for the politician.
/john
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