Rose Family awarded $3.6 million

How do you place a value on the pain and suffering of a family following a tragic accident?

Does an officer of the law have the right to respond to an emergency call as he sees fit?

Would seatbelts have made a difference in the fateful events of August 21, 2003 that shattered a family and ended a young man’s career as a McCreary County Sheriff’s Deputy?

A Jury of 12 men and women in the civil trial between former Deputy Jeremy Thompson and Charles Rose Sr., Charles Axl Rose and the estates of Ashley and Alice Rose wrestled with those questions for more than five hours Monday evening and Tuesday morning, wrapping up a six day trial.

The members of the Jury panel had some difficult issues to deal with in their deliberations.
The Jury had to determine if Jeremy Thompson failed to drive his police cruiser at a reasonable speed and exercised ordinary care to generally avoid collision with other persons or vehicles, and if such a failure was a substantial factor in the fatal collision.

The Jury also had to decide if Alice Rose failed to exercise ordinary care for her own safety and the safety of the passengers of her vehicle by not yielding the right-of-way to Deputy Thompson’s cruiser.
When the Jury reached their final verdict after deliberations, they determined that both drivers shared responsibility in the accident, with 70 percent of the fault lying with Thompson and 30 percent with Alice Rose.

In a civil trial a unanimous decision is not required by a jury, only nine of the twelve need to come to an agreement to reach a verdict. Only ten of Jurors thought Thompson was at fault and ten agreed Alice Rose was also at fault.
The sharing of partial blame by both Thompson and Rose means the $5,140,691 settlement will be reduced by 30 percent to nearly $3.6 million dollars for the plaintiffs. Nine of the twelve Jurors agreed of the division of blame.

In the final verdict the Jury awarded $60,000 for the loss of Alice Rose’s potential income and $8,593.50 for funeral expenses.
The Jury awarded $8,235 for Ashley Rose’s funeral expenses, but did not award any money for the potential lost income and pain and suffering for the 12-year-old girl. Her attorneys were seeking as much as $1.7 million for those claims.

Charles Rose Sr. was awarded a sum of $1,000,000 for physical and mental suffering, $346,929.98 for medical expenses and $585,922 for his potential loss of income. He also was awarded $1.5 million for the loss of his daughter.
Charles Axl Rose was awarded $1.5 million for the loss of companionship from his mother’s death as well as $75,000 for pain and suffering and $52,031.18 in medical expenses.

An additional $4,000 was awarded for the Rose’s Hyundai that was destroyed in the collision.
After the verdict was read and the Jury was dismissed for the final time, both attorneys shared their thoughts on the final decision.

“I thought the Jury, throughout the six-day trial, was extraordinarily attentive and they certainly worked hard deliberating over the two-day period,” said Gary Crabtree, who along with Tim Lavender represented the Rose family. “I applaud their conscientious work on the case.”

“I think that today was somewhat of a closure,” he added. “But both the father and son will have to deal with grief each and every day for the rest of their life.”

While Crabtree said he did not plan to pursue an appeal of the case, the attorney representing Thompson, Winter Huff, said an appeal could be on the horizon for her client.
“Certainly it is a possibility,” she said.

“I’m obviously disappointed in the verdict,” she said. “But, this is why we have trials. I’m glad we had our day in court. I’m sorry the Jury didn’t see it the same way as I did.”

Huff said her client was as much a victim in the crash and wasn’t pleased with the verdict.
“He’s very disappointed and upset. You can’t compare one person’s suffering with another. I hope everyone on both sides can begin to heal.”

Testimony in the trial lasted five days with several witnesses being called to discuss the physical aspects of the crash itself, the injuries sustained by the victims, the potential loss of income to the victims as a result of the accident and timing of the events just prior to the collision.

One of the major focuses of the trial was the actions of Deputy Thompson in the moments leading up to the crash.

Thompson had just come on duty and was responding to a call regarding a possible suicidal woman in the Wiborg area. Thompson left his home on Murphy Ridge Road in Strunk and proceeded north on U.S. 27 on route to the call.

Thompson requested a status check from 911 Dispatch somewhere in the vicinity of Williamsburg Street and was advised he could signal 8, or stop his run. Shortly after receiving the call to disregard the emergency call, Thompson’s vehicle collided with the Rose’s vehicle which was pulling out of the Kroger/ U-Save parking lot.

A great deal of testimony centered around the speed of Thompson’s cruiser, estimated to be around 95 miles per hour, and whether he had ample time to stop or slow down before the crash.

Discussion around the timing of the “signal 8” call was a major topic among the attorneys and three accident reconstructionists. Crabtree contended that Deputy Thompson’s earlier testimony in a disposition given shortly after the incident indicated he was approaching the lights at Williamsburg Street, while later statements placed him at the lights when the call from dispatch began and by the end of the transmission he was already at the scene of the accident. Crabtree criticized Thompson for “changing his story,” while Thompson contested that at the time of his earlier testimony his memory wasn’t reliable due to the fact he was on pain medication. It was only after he began to recover from his injuries and began to prepare for the trial that his memory became clearer.

A tape of the 911 tapes was played to the Jury, illustrating the sequence of events prior to the crash. At the end of the tape the Jurors heard Deputy Thompson acknowledge the signal 8 by stating “10-4,” in a different tone of voice than was evident in any of his other transmissions. Huff contended the inflection in his voice on the last transmission indicated that as he was replying he saw the Rose’s vehicle pull out.

“You can hear it in my voice,” Thompson said from the witness stand. “They are pulling out at the same instant. It happened so fast.”

Crabtree alleged that evidence put Deputy Thompson at least 500 feet from the Kroger entrance when he knew he could stop his emergency run, leaving enough room to slow or stop the vehicle.

“Even if he slowed the car down to an average speed of 70 miles per hour,” Crabtree said. “Alice Rose would have an extra 0.8 seconds, enough time to clear the lane.”

In closing arguments both attorneys reviewed their cases and reminded the Jury of the salient parts of their arguments.

Huff asked the Jury to consider that her client, Thompson, was performing his duty and had no chance to avoid the accident.

“You can’t put all the blame on Jeremy Thompson,” she said. “Please don’t hold him responsible for the tragic outcome of this accident.”

Huff continued that if the Jury found Deputy Thompson even partially to blame, she asked that they consider the fact that none of the occupants in the Rose’s vehicle were wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash. Huff argued that the use of seatbelts could have considerably lessened the severity of the injuries sustained by the victims.

“There is one compelling piece of evidence that this didn’t need to happen,” she said. “Charles Axl Rose.” The young man in the accident was the only family member not thrown from the vehicle and suffered broken ribs and a possible head injury from the impact. Huff suggested that if Ashley or Alice Rose had been wearing proper restraints they could have survived the crash.

Crabtree countered that Deputy Thompson put others at risk by driving at a high rate of speed in a known high-traffic area, despite the fact that he was responding to an emergency call at the time.
“The will to save lives does not give the right to put innocents at risk,” Crabtree said.

He argued that Deputy Thompson had sufficient time to slow down or even stop after receiving the signal 8 call, which would have allowed him to avoid the accident.

Around 8:00 p.m. Monday evening the case was handed over to the Jury for deliberation. A couple of hours into the deliberations Judge Payne sent a note into the Jury Room giving the members three options; one more hour, staying until a verdict was reached, or adjourning for the night and reconvening in the morning. The Jury responded that they were close to reaching a decision on one verdict and asked for a few more minutes, then they would break for the night and pick it up again in the morning.

Shortly before 11:00 p.m. Judge Payne instructed the Jury not to discuss the case and adjourned for the night. The panel gathered again at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and deliberated until 10:55 a.m. when they announced a verdict had been reached.
An appeal of the verdict will delay any settlement, the county’s insurance carrier KACo (the Kentucky Association of Counties) would most likely be responsible for $3 million of the settlement with Jeremy Thompson liable for the remainder. McCreary County Judge Executive Blaine Phillips said he is waiting to be contacted by the insurance agency to confirm that fact.