Posted on 03/05/2002 11:21:20 PM PST by sarcasm
Tennessee Highway Patrol investigators found no evidence that driver's license examiner Katherine Smith tried to stop her car or take any evasive action Feb. 10 as her car veered off U.S 72.
THP investigators reconstructed the fiery crash that killed Smith the day before she was to appear at a detention hearing in U.S. Magistrate Court on charges that she and five New York City men conspired to fraudulently obtain Tennessee driver's licenses.
Smith, 49, was driving a 1992 Acura Legend registered to Khaled Odtllah, one of the men arrested on Feb. 5.
Federal investigators have said the fire was set; THP officials first released the details of their investigation Tuesday.
"Her death was not the result of the crash itself," said THP Capt. Jimmy Erwin. "Her death was by other means."
Smith's car left the roadway and traveled 137 feet before hitting a utility pole, THP reports indicate.
In those five seconds, there was plenty of time for even an "inattentive" driver to respond, the Highway Patrol found. The car was traveling about 21 mph when it hit the utility pole, not fast enough to kill Smith from the impact.
"Usually a person who initially strikes a fixed object, as in a suicide attempt, does so at a high speed, which is not the indication here," the THP report says. "Therefore, ruling out inattentiveness, the driver's lack of evasiveness could be due to incapacitation. If intoxication is not a factor, then the reason for no reaction to the hazard could lie elsewhere."
Six witnesses saw Smith's car leave the highway and strike the pole, the THP report says. They were traveling in two cars headed toward Corinth, Miss.
Three of the six submitted handwritten accounts of what they saw.
"When they reached the vehicle, they observed a 'glowing' fire coming from the back seat area," a Highway Patrol summary reports. "They said in less than a minute after the crash occurred, a large fire had erupted in the passenger compartment."
Rodney L. Wood, of Corinth, wrote that he and two others tried to free Smith from the driver's seat but were driven away by the smoke and heat.
"The driver did not ever respond, moan or move," wrote Wood, who works for the Corinth Police Department.
FBI Agent J. Suzanne Nash has testified in court that the fire was intense enough to burn off Smith's legs and arms.
THP officers' reports of the incident also noted that the charred hulk of the car burst into flames again as crews prepared to move it.
Since Smith's death, the five men have been indicted on the same conspiracy charge. They have remained in custody and are not charged in Smith's death.
The THP was to determine if Smith's death was a traffic fatality. It does not involve any finding of possible criminal activity. The FBI is heading the criminal investigation.
That's strange - don't we all know by now that there's no such thing as "conspiracy". I guess the author must be another tin-foil hat wearing "kook".
...Since Smith's death, the five men have been indicted on the same conspiracy charge. They have remained in custody and are not charged in Smith's death.
Burn 'em, too.
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