Wednesday 31 January 2018

Florida deputy who drove 104 mph before crashing into car blames other driver

Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy who slammed his cruiser into another car at an estimated 104 mph told a jury Monday the other driver was distracted and totally at fault.
Brandon Hegele’s trial on a charge of reckless driving causing serious bodily injury began with attorney Scott Richardson insisting the road patrol deputy “did not cause this crash.”
He said the jury will see a dashcam video of driver Harry Deshommes holding an object “similar in size and shape to a cell phone.”
Deshommes “was driving distracted,” Richardson said in his opening statement. “Deputy Hegele was doing his job when a Smart car drove into his lane and caused this crash.”
But prosecutors say Hegele, 35, ignored commands from supervisors not to look for a vehicle involved in a separate incident and instead drove faster and faster while weaving around traffic.
“Listen to the commands that are clearly given to hold back,” Assistant State Attorney Laura Laurie said of a recording to be placed in evidence.
She said the “horrific crash” on May 27, 2016 put Deshommes, 61, in the hospital with critical injuries and “altered his life and his ability to care for himself and live his life.”
The Royal Palm Beach man resides in an assisted-living facility and is not able to testify, Laurie said. She told the jurors they will instead hear from doctors about Deshommes’ traumatic brain injury, fractured skull, broken back, broken pelvis and other bones.
Deshommes doesn’t remember the crash or where he was headed before it happened, said his sister Gina Desrouleaux.
He had been healthy and looking for work after a previous job as a Macy's clerk, Desrouleaux said last year.
“I just want justice to be served,” she said, calling Hegele “a police officer who has total disregard for the law.” 
A 13-year veteran of the force, Hegele was placed on unpaid leave four months after the crash. It was the latest in a series of disciplinary actions over his driving, documents show.
That includes a suspension and a reprimand over two prior rear-end car crashes, including one that left another driver with back and shoulder injuries, according records provided by the Sheriff's Office.
In 2013, Hegele signed a “last chance agreement” to keep his job after a captain recommended firing him for failing to maintain his service weapon. Hegele was then suspended for three weeks.
The jury will not be told about Hegele’s background. Circuit Judge Samantha Schosberg Feuer instructed lawyers to keep the focus only on the crash and what led up to it.
Prosecutors say Hegele was not using lights and sirens as he accelerated his Ford sedan westbound on Southern Boulevard, disregarding the commands of two supervisors not to pursue a suspect Toyota with Kentucky plates.
At 3:13 p.m., Deshommes made a U-turn on Southern to head west when the deputy slammed on the brakes but couldn’t avoid the collision, according to an investigator's report.
The Smart car flipped before landing upright, east of Cleary Road.
Richardson said Deshommes had “made a wide turn into the middle lane” and should have been able to see oncoming traffic.
Hegele’s car “was in Mr. Deshommes field of view,” the attorney said. “There was plenty of opportunity for Mr. Deshommes to see Deputy Hegele approaching.”
The reckless driving charge — a felony punishable by up to five years in prison — requires prosecutors to prove the crash was caused by Hegele’s “willful or wanton” disregard for the safety of others on the road.
The trial continues Tuesday and is expected to conclude by the end of the week.

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