Few sounds are better to a defendant’s ear than the dulcet tones of a judge saying “case dismissed” because the arresting officer failed to appear for trial. Well, “not guilty” is better, but that puts the defendant through the cost and misery of trial. How wonderful to avoid it all. Except when the defendant is a Florida Highway Patrol trooper who’s conduct killed a woman, injured another and sent as 12-year-old hurtling through a windshield.

From the Sun-Sentinel :

Accelerating with no emergency lights, the trooper reached 102 mph in his Crown Victoria, heading toward a curve with a recommended speed limit of 35 mph, according to FHP records. Coming the other way was the Mitsubishi with two women and a 12-year-old girl, on their way home to Quincy after picking the child up from school, relatives said.

As [FHP Trooper  Detrick] McClellan reached the curve, he veered off the road, then swerved into the other lane and smashed into the Mitsubishi. Passenger Michelle Campbell, 51, died several hours later from her injuries. Campbell’s granddaughter, 12, flew through the windshield, and the other woman, her niece, suffered serious injuries, records show.

Why was McClellan racing down the road?

FHP Cpl. C. Brooks Yarborough investigated the crash and found McClellan responsible. Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges, determining that the trooper’s driving did not rise to the level of vehicular homicide.

“He responded to [the call] rapidly because that’s a dangerous thing, rocks hitting cars,” Willie Meggs, state attorney for the circuit that includes Gadsden County, told the Sun Sentinel. “We made the conclusion that there was a life lost, but he was trying to save a life.”

But McClellan wasn’t completely off the hook, as he was “cited for three traffic violations.” Harsh, right? 

Yarborough cited McClellan for careless driving, speeding, and failure to use his emergency lights — non-criminal traffic infractions typically punishable by fines.

A hearing was set for Nov. 5 before Gadsden County Judge Kathy Garner. Two hours before it started, Garner’s assistant got a call saying Yarborough wouldn’t be there, the judge announced at the hearing.

Of course, there is a history of “professional courtesy” in the FHP, suggesting that maybe the failure to appear was, say, calculated? But no, according to the cops. It appears that Yarborough had a “medical emergency,” and his failure to appear presented no issue.  On the other hand, he wasn’t the only trooper in the hearing room:

But when his case came up in court, the trooper who issued the citations wasn’t there. Another trooper in attendance said that though he couldn’t represent the agency, he would not object to dismissing the tickets, and the judge did just that.

McClellan walked out with no consequences, and even got handshakes from his fellow law enforcement officers.

After all, it was McClellan’s lucky day.

Not to be a bit cynical, but there is no aspect of what happened here that passes the smell test.  From the determination that McClellan at worst deserved a speeding ticket to the failure to appear for medical reasons to the failure to simply adjourn the hearing to another date.

Perhaps what happened here can be chalked up to a massive screw up, but the outcome of this case strains  Hanlon’s Razor to the breaking point.  Had the individual who caused the death of a woman and a child to be thrown through a windshield been anything other than a trooper, this would have not only been prosecuted as a homicide, but touted as the justification for a new law imposing a sentence of death plus cancer for speeding.

There is no shortage of people who have given up hope in the legal system, who believe that it’s so badly broken, so utterly fixed, such a total sham, as to either fall into despair or be ready to take up arms against those they believe are the perpetrators of injustice.  As much as we may point to those rare cases where the right result happens, whether it be the cop convicted or the defendant acquitted, we remain saddled with stories like this. 

Try as I might, there is absolutely nothing about what happened here that can be rationally explained or justified.  It’s the dream of every tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist, and the nightmare of every person who struggles to make the system work with integrity. 

Nice going, Florida. The cynics win. And you handed it to them on a silver platter.

H/T FritzMuffKnuckle