Pick187
05-04-2010, 11:24 AM
http://www.ksn.com/news/local/story/Police-officer-charged-with-vehicular-homicide/dsdlF_kr5kauipqqST72Rg.cspx
WICHITA, Kansas -- A Wichita police officer is charged with vehicular homicide after a work-related car accident in December.
Officer Garrett Shaddix was on duty, responding to a call of shots fired, when the accident happened.
Police say a car driven by Chris Perkins pulled in front of Shaddix's police cruiser near I-135 and Hydraulic and the cars crashed. Perkins died from his injuries.
Shaddix did not have lights and siren on. The Wichita Police Department says that is policy on this kind of call.
Investigators are not sure how fast Shaddix was traveling.
Shaddix was formally charged in Sedgwick County Court Thursday. Vehicular homicide is a misdemeanor. If Shaddix is found guilty, he could face jail time.
The complaint filed in Sedgwick county court says Shaddix operated an automobile in "a manner which created an unreasonable risk…and deviated from the standard of care which a reasonable person would observe under the same circumstances."
"My reaction was one of somewhat surprise," said Tom Warner, a Wichita attorney who is representing Perkins’s family.
"They feel like they're in the process of being vindicated," said Warner. "That has been our position all along that Christopher Perkins was in the wrong place at the wrong time and as a result he was killed by a police officer who was driving in excess of the speed limit and was violating other traffic rules as far as we know at this point in time."
Warner says the Perkins family is considering filing a civil suit against the City of Wichita.
Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams says Shaddix has been placed on an indefinite administrative assignment.
Chief Williams says the department will not be commenting further other than to thank the District Attorney’s office and Highway Patrol for their investigation.
WICHITA, Kansas -- A Wichita police officer is charged with vehicular homicide after a work-related car accident in December.
Officer Garrett Shaddix was on duty, responding to a call of shots fired, when the accident happened.
Police say a car driven by Chris Perkins pulled in front of Shaddix's police cruiser near I-135 and Hydraulic and the cars crashed. Perkins died from his injuries.
Shaddix did not have lights and siren on. The Wichita Police Department says that is policy on this kind of call.
Investigators are not sure how fast Shaddix was traveling.
Shaddix was formally charged in Sedgwick County Court Thursday. Vehicular homicide is a misdemeanor. If Shaddix is found guilty, he could face jail time.
The complaint filed in Sedgwick county court says Shaddix operated an automobile in "a manner which created an unreasonable risk…and deviated from the standard of care which a reasonable person would observe under the same circumstances."
"My reaction was one of somewhat surprise," said Tom Warner, a Wichita attorney who is representing Perkins’s family.
"They feel like they're in the process of being vindicated," said Warner. "That has been our position all along that Christopher Perkins was in the wrong place at the wrong time and as a result he was killed by a police officer who was driving in excess of the speed limit and was violating other traffic rules as far as we know at this point in time."
Warner says the Perkins family is considering filing a civil suit against the City of Wichita.
Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams says Shaddix has been placed on an indefinite administrative assignment.
Chief Williams says the department will not be commenting further other than to thank the District Attorney’s office and Highway Patrol for their investigation.