FROM CHIEF PETER HOELL - GERMANTOWN P/D Chief’s Commentary, a serious topic regarding fatal accidents. Over the years I have been involved in more fatal accident investigations than I care to remember, some of the worst have been on US 41. A common question that is sometimes generated out of the aftermath of these accidents is why the highway was closed so long. I thought this would be a very good topic to post since these accident scenes impact so many people, I think an explanation is merited. I am not going to specifically talk about Monday’s fatal accident on US 41 because it is still under investigation, an investigation that will take months before it can be closed. I will discuss this by using my experiences over the years as a resource. Initial response: As soon as the accident occurs, local dispatch centers are inundated with 911 calls. Police and Fire/EMS are dispatched. The first emergency responders on scene try to assess the situation and relay that to communications and supervisors. The scene at first is chaotic, people trapped, screaming, walking wounded, witnesses, people stopped to help. The smells of gas, burning, and other foul odors are in the air. EMS and officers immediately render aid, they work to remove the trapped victims, stabilize victims and transport them to area hospitals. In most cases, one or two are transported by Flight for Life. Arriving officers are helping with rendering aid and trying to figure out who was all involved. Flight for Life obviously takes coordinating, a landing zone must be located and secured, emergency workers need to staff the zone to keep it safe from bystanders. Dealing with the injured can take up to an hour or more depending how long it takes to extricate some of them. I will be particularly vague about this next topic. Sometimes these scenes can be very gruesome. The Medical Examiner’s Office and Law Enforcement go to great lengths to make sure it is handled appropriately and with respect. This could be a 2 to 3 hour process. Sizing up the incident: These types of accidents are treated as crime scenes until we learn otherwise. For example, if someone was intoxicated, we may be investigating a homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle case. We need to determine what our crime scene all involves. In most median crossover fatal accidents, both north and south bound lanes are involved. In order to save and collect all the evidence, we need to shut both lanes down and divert traffic. Depending on the day of the week and time of the day, this can be a monumental task. In most cases, it involves 3 to 4 law enforcement agencies and close to half of Germantown’s staff to accomplish. Investigation: In order to thoroughly investigate a scene, all evidence needs to be identified, preserved and collected. Weather conditions can create a lot of problems with evidence preservation. We also need to identify those directly involved in the crash and those who witnessed the crash and obtain statements. Nothing at the crash scene should be moved or altered to preserve the evidence, which is why we cannot begin cleanup after the injured are removed. The scene is photographed by GPD staff and reconstructed by the State Patrol who has the specialized equipment and computer software to do so. The reconstruction starts on the lanes that were least impacted so that they can be opened up as soon as possible. We can usually open one side up within 3 hours after the incident. We are now a good two hours plus into this incident and the investigation is in full gear. Clean up: We are now at least three hours into the incident. Once all the evidence is gathered, the cleanup begins. Most times when a diesel fueled vehicle is involved, there is a substantial spill which is a hazardous material situation. Private companies are called in to deal with and remove the spill. If a semi-trailer is loaded or spilled, that has to be removed. Large vehicles embedded into the ditch or surrounding area can be challenging to remove, especially after a fresh rain or melting snow. The debris field is usually large and County crews with sweepers are brought in. Monday’s crash took a little over 5 hours to deal with. I have been involved with some that have taken as long as 8 hours. Some of the longer scenes are complicated by the amount and severity of the wrecks. If someone is killed in any type of incident, we owe it to the victim, the victim’s family, friends and all those involved to perform a complete and thorough investigation. We understand that diverting US 41 creates a big traffic mess and can delay people by an hour or more. We do work as fast as possible without compromising the investigation so that we can reopen the highway. We also try and position officers on some of the side roads to direct traffic; however resources can only be stretched so far. During the incident, we cannot call “time out, we are busy.” Other calls for service are still coming in. During this past Monday’s fatal accident incident, we had other unrelated accidents called in, a suicidal subject and other typical calls for service. Additional staff is called in to help deal with the fatal accident scene and other calls for service. Thank you for the questions and great Facebook post idea. This explanation is obviously very broad brush strokes and doesn’t even touch on the aftermath of the investigation after the scene is cleared. Chief Peter Hoell
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 00:55:57 +0000
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