Detailed investigation in Wisconsin deputy's crash

On 4/25/2010 Vilas County (Wisc.) Deputy Kory Dahlvig, 29, was killed when his squad car rear-ended a farm truck on a County highway near Lac du Flambeau, Wisc.

On May 2, I inquired of the editor of the Vilas County News-Review whether a follow-up story was planned and asked if there would be any reporting on the conditions of the accident, such as day/dusk/night? straight road/curve? speed of the patrol car? whether lights/siren were in use? sight distance from truck back to any obstruction? whether oncoming lane was available for passing truck? any evidence of in-car computer use or cell phone use by deputy at time of crash?

The editor responded in the affirmative, and the News-Review published a story on May 4 in which it covered Deputy Dahlvig's funeral procession, which was attended by 1,000 people, including an estimated 700 law enforcement officers. It was estimated that there were 208 squad cars at Minocqua, Wisc. for the April 30 funeral. Minocqua is 14 miles northwst of Minocqua. www.vilascountynewsreview.com/full.php?id=18562

In its follow-up article on May 4, the News-Review reported that the Wisconsin State trooper investigating the accident has requested an accident reconstruction team to investigate the crash. Unanswered questions were whether Deputy Dahlvig was using his emergency lights and siren; the speed of the squad car; how he determined he was needed to assist a deputy in Lac du Flambeau (since the sheriff's department control center had not dispatched him to a call); what the "situtation" was in Lac du Flambeau was to which he was driving; whether vehicle lights were in use on either vehicle.

The BAC of the driver of the farm truck was reported as 0.192%, well above Wisconsin's legal limit. The driver had apparently pulled onto the highway from a driveway and intended to drive only 100-150 feet before turning left. No information was immediately available about whether the rear of the farm truck was lighted or whether the squad car was burning its headlights.

My guess? The deputy was "hurrying along" (speeding) to help out a fellow deputy who had called him on his cell phone, bypassing the department's radio communications system. If the deputy was speeding and not using his overheads and maybe not even his headlights at dusk, the driver of the farm truck would not have judged the approach speed or distance away correctly, or he might not have even seen the approaching squad car, if its headlights were not in use. With a BAC of 0.192%, his judgement most likely would have been impaired, even if he had seen headlights approaching.

In McHenry County, deputies commonly use cell phones to bypass the Department's radio network. Such use has several results:

1. dispatchers don't know what's going on.
2. supervisors and other deputies don't know what is going on.
3. if a deputy is "hurrying along" (speeding) at the direction or approval of a supervisor, other deputies and the dispatcher won't know it;
4. there is no audio-recording of the transmissions that can be reviewed later, should supervisors or investigators wish to do so as part of a case.

In the "olden days", back in the 1970s, we were commonly directly to "Switch to Channel 2" for selected radio communications. This allowed normal communications with uninvolved deputies to continue without interruption, but it meant that radio communications were still recorded.