Jenefer3
03-20-2008, 04:47 PM
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/03/20/breaking_news/doc47e2d3dfaa9ac024864550.txt
SPOKANE, Wash. — Despite testimony that a medical condition caused him to faint just before a crash that killed five children, Clifford Helm still has a valid license and continues to drive, officials said.
A doctor testified in Helm’s recent vehicular homicide trial that he may faint during serious coughing fits while driving. But the Washington Department of Licensing said it cannot revoke his license unless it is formally notified he is a danger to others.
A jury last week acquitted Helm, 58, of five counts of vehicular homicide and one count of vehicular assault in the head-on crash that killed five young children in November 2005.
New York neurologist Dr. Horacio Kaufmann testified that Helm had experienced “cough syncope,” a cough that triggers a fainting spell, just before the fatal crash and again about two weeks later while he was recovering from injuries at his Deer Park home.
Unless a police officer or medical professional notifies the Licensing Department that Helm is a danger to others, he can continue to drive, a department spokesman said.
“He has a clear right to operate a vehicle,” spokesman Brad Benfield told The Spokesman-Review in a story published Thursday.
Calls to Helm’s residence were unanswered Thursday.
When a driver renews a license every five years, licensing officials ask whether the driver has suffered a loss of consciousness within the last six months.
“If the answer is yes, it triggers a medical review,” Benfield said.
Benfield would not disclose whether a medical review of Helm has been requested, saying that information is private under federal law.
Prosecutors determined Helm renewed his license on Oct. 25, 2006, nearly a year — but more than six months — after the accident.
The Department of Licensing says people who’ve lost consciousness are required to get a medical certificate saying the problem is under control, such as a person with epilepsy controlling seizures by taking proper medicine.
A doctor’s testimony in court that a driver has a fainting problem is not enough to trigger a review. The problem must be reported directly to the Licensing Department, Benfield said
Helm’s lawyer, Carl Oreskovich, said he didn’t know if the Licensing Department had been notified. Helm is driving but has been advised by his doctors to watch for coughing symptoms, he said.
“When he gets a cough, he shouldn’t drive,” Oreskovich said.
Washington State Patrol investigators concluded Helm drove through a grassy median, then drove 244 feet in the wrong direction before smashing head-on into the truck carrying Jeffrey Schrock and the children.
Killed were Schrock’s children: Carmen, 12, Jana, 10, Carinna, 8, Jerryll, 5, and Craig, 2. Schrock and Helm were seriously injured, but have recovered.
Calls to Schrock’s Chewelah home Thursday had a busy signal.
The fact Helm is still driving doesn’t sit well with a former business associate, who questioned Helm’s testimony that he did not drive for 10 or 11 months after the fatal crash.
John Ryker, of Lake Stevens, said he sat in the back seat while Helm drove during a business trip in Western Washington only a few months after the crash.
Spokane County prosecutors talked to Ryker last week but said his complaint won’t trigger a perjury charge.
Deputy Prosecutor Clint Francis said Helm’s testimony about when he resumed driving after the accident is not a material fact in the case.
“It has to be a really important element,” Francis said. “This doesn’t rise to that.”
A previous article:
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/03/14/breaking_news/doc47daff90932f8188314066.txt
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A Spokane County jury on Friday acquitted a Deer Park man of vehicular homicide in a November 2005 head-on crash that killed five children from a Chewelah family.
The jury found 58-year-old Clifford L. Helm not guilty of five counts of first-degree vehicular homicide in the collision on U.S. Highway 395 north of Spokane that killed the children between the ages of 2 and 12.
Helm also was acquitted of one count of vehicular assault.
Helm testified that he didn’t remember the collision that also severely injured him, but that he may have had a coughing fit that caused him to pass out. Prosecutors contended Helm was using a cellular phone when he drove hundreds of feet in the wrong direction before the crash.
Washington State Patrol investigators concluded Helm drove through a grassy median, then drove 244 feet in the wrong direction before smashing head-on into the truck carrying Jeffrey Schrock and the children.
Killed in the crash were Schrock’s children: Carmen, 12, Jana, 10, Carinna, 8, Jerryll, 5, and Craig, 2.
The investigation was complicated by the Schrock family’s reluctance to pursue prosecution, based on their religious beliefs.
Carolyn Schrock, Jeffrey Schrock’s wife, the children’s mother and a member of a tiny Mennonite community, publicly forgave Helm while he and her husband were recovering in a Spokane hospital.
Members of the sect attended the trial and were in the courtroom when the verdicts were announced Friday.
WSP investigators testified they found no indication that Helm was drunk or on drugs or prescription medications at the time of the accident. The State Patrol subpoenaed cell phone records that showed Helm had briefly used his cell phone just before the crash.
Schrock was called to testify against Helm, whom his family had befriended after the crash, and told jurors he assumed the truck he saw in the median just before the crash was a state highway vehicle. He said he then saw the truck climb onto the highway heading directly at him.
Schrock, who was confined to a wheelchair for two months after the Nov. 1, 2005 collision, suffered internal bleeding, a head wound and multiple broken bones, including a pelvis shattered in five places.
I understand that the DOL has to follow certain rules but if there's such media coverage about this, than why don't they revoke his license? Why let him stay out on the roads, driving around, possibly injuring or killing someone else?
SPOKANE, Wash. — Despite testimony that a medical condition caused him to faint just before a crash that killed five children, Clifford Helm still has a valid license and continues to drive, officials said.
A doctor testified in Helm’s recent vehicular homicide trial that he may faint during serious coughing fits while driving. But the Washington Department of Licensing said it cannot revoke his license unless it is formally notified he is a danger to others.
A jury last week acquitted Helm, 58, of five counts of vehicular homicide and one count of vehicular assault in the head-on crash that killed five young children in November 2005.
New York neurologist Dr. Horacio Kaufmann testified that Helm had experienced “cough syncope,” a cough that triggers a fainting spell, just before the fatal crash and again about two weeks later while he was recovering from injuries at his Deer Park home.
Unless a police officer or medical professional notifies the Licensing Department that Helm is a danger to others, he can continue to drive, a department spokesman said.
“He has a clear right to operate a vehicle,” spokesman Brad Benfield told The Spokesman-Review in a story published Thursday.
Calls to Helm’s residence were unanswered Thursday.
When a driver renews a license every five years, licensing officials ask whether the driver has suffered a loss of consciousness within the last six months.
“If the answer is yes, it triggers a medical review,” Benfield said.
Benfield would not disclose whether a medical review of Helm has been requested, saying that information is private under federal law.
Prosecutors determined Helm renewed his license on Oct. 25, 2006, nearly a year — but more than six months — after the accident.
The Department of Licensing says people who’ve lost consciousness are required to get a medical certificate saying the problem is under control, such as a person with epilepsy controlling seizures by taking proper medicine.
A doctor’s testimony in court that a driver has a fainting problem is not enough to trigger a review. The problem must be reported directly to the Licensing Department, Benfield said
Helm’s lawyer, Carl Oreskovich, said he didn’t know if the Licensing Department had been notified. Helm is driving but has been advised by his doctors to watch for coughing symptoms, he said.
“When he gets a cough, he shouldn’t drive,” Oreskovich said.
Washington State Patrol investigators concluded Helm drove through a grassy median, then drove 244 feet in the wrong direction before smashing head-on into the truck carrying Jeffrey Schrock and the children.
Killed were Schrock’s children: Carmen, 12, Jana, 10, Carinna, 8, Jerryll, 5, and Craig, 2. Schrock and Helm were seriously injured, but have recovered.
Calls to Schrock’s Chewelah home Thursday had a busy signal.
The fact Helm is still driving doesn’t sit well with a former business associate, who questioned Helm’s testimony that he did not drive for 10 or 11 months after the fatal crash.
John Ryker, of Lake Stevens, said he sat in the back seat while Helm drove during a business trip in Western Washington only a few months after the crash.
Spokane County prosecutors talked to Ryker last week but said his complaint won’t trigger a perjury charge.
Deputy Prosecutor Clint Francis said Helm’s testimony about when he resumed driving after the accident is not a material fact in the case.
“It has to be a really important element,” Francis said. “This doesn’t rise to that.”
A previous article:
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/03/14/breaking_news/doc47daff90932f8188314066.txt
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A Spokane County jury on Friday acquitted a Deer Park man of vehicular homicide in a November 2005 head-on crash that killed five children from a Chewelah family.
The jury found 58-year-old Clifford L. Helm not guilty of five counts of first-degree vehicular homicide in the collision on U.S. Highway 395 north of Spokane that killed the children between the ages of 2 and 12.
Helm also was acquitted of one count of vehicular assault.
Helm testified that he didn’t remember the collision that also severely injured him, but that he may have had a coughing fit that caused him to pass out. Prosecutors contended Helm was using a cellular phone when he drove hundreds of feet in the wrong direction before the crash.
Washington State Patrol investigators concluded Helm drove through a grassy median, then drove 244 feet in the wrong direction before smashing head-on into the truck carrying Jeffrey Schrock and the children.
Killed in the crash were Schrock’s children: Carmen, 12, Jana, 10, Carinna, 8, Jerryll, 5, and Craig, 2.
The investigation was complicated by the Schrock family’s reluctance to pursue prosecution, based on their religious beliefs.
Carolyn Schrock, Jeffrey Schrock’s wife, the children’s mother and a member of a tiny Mennonite community, publicly forgave Helm while he and her husband were recovering in a Spokane hospital.
Members of the sect attended the trial and were in the courtroom when the verdicts were announced Friday.
WSP investigators testified they found no indication that Helm was drunk or on drugs or prescription medications at the time of the accident. The State Patrol subpoenaed cell phone records that showed Helm had briefly used his cell phone just before the crash.
Schrock was called to testify against Helm, whom his family had befriended after the crash, and told jurors he assumed the truck he saw in the median just before the crash was a state highway vehicle. He said he then saw the truck climb onto the highway heading directly at him.
Schrock, who was confined to a wheelchair for two months after the Nov. 1, 2005 collision, suffered internal bleeding, a head wound and multiple broken bones, including a pelvis shattered in five places.
I understand that the DOL has to follow certain rules but if there's such media coverage about this, than why don't they revoke his license? Why let him stay out on the roads, driving around, possibly injuring or killing someone else?