The mother of a man killed last year by a state trooper?s speeding cruiser in Carroll County is demanding Maryland?s attorney general bring charges against the trooper.
The Frederick County State?s Attorney?s Office, which investigated the accident, decided in May not to charge Trooper Dale Derr because speed alone does not constitute “reckless disregard for human life,” said Kirsten Brown, head of Frederick?s District Court division.
“Unfortunately, this is a terrible accident, someone died, and the family suffered a tremendous loss,” Brown said. “But there just isn?t enough to bring criminal charges.”
Randy Rakes, 38, died after the cruiser hit him Nov. 28 on Route 140 in Finksburg.
In a news release the next day, state police said Rakes had run across the road into the path of the cruiser and that Derr was responding to a burglary call.
But in a December accident investigation report, which Rakes? mother and her attorney said they received only last month, the state police found the cruiser, traveling 83 mph, hit Rakes a half foot from the roadway on the shoulder. The investigation also found Derr had not been en route to a burglary, but had been off-duty for an hour and was on his way to the Westminster barracks to file paperwork.
David Ellin, the attorney representing Blizzard, said she learned only last week that Derr would not be charged. The family alleges a police cover-up and is calling for criminal charges, or at least a speeding ticket, because Derr was driving nearly 30 mph over the limit.
“We are absolutely shocked and appalled,” Ellin said. “The trooper is being treated as if he?s above the law.”
Rakes? mother, Jeanne Blizzard, said state police had told her that her son had run in front of the cruiser in an apparent suicide attempt.
“The most tragic misstatement this family has had to live for the past year is that their loved one had ?attempted suicide? and ?ran into? the path of the trooper?s cruiser,” reads a letter Ellin sent Wednesday to Attorney General Doug Gansler, Gov. Martin O?Malley, State Police Superintendent Col. Terrence Sheridan and Frederick County State?s Attorney Scott Rolle.
State police declined comment, citing a $15.8 million lawsuit Blizzard has filed against the agency. A spokeswoman for the attorney general?s office said the office would contact Blizzard?s attorney after reviewing the letter. Officials in the Carroll state?s attorney?s office said they transferred the case to Frederick to avoid a conflict of interest.
