CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, NEW JERSEY - Attorneys representing State Trooper Robert Higbee, the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office and Ford Motor Company spent Wednesday morning determining what scientific data would be relevant and available as the criminal case against Higbee moves ahead. phantom
Higbee, 35, is charged with two counts of vehicular homicide in the Sept. 27, 2006, deaths of Upper Township sisters Christina and Jacqueline Becker.
Higbee ran a stop sign in his Ford Crown Victoria at the intersection of Stagecoach and Tuckahoe roads in Marmora, striking the Beckers’ minivan.
The sisters were pronounced dead at the scene.
Higbee’s patrol car was traveling at almost 65 mph at the time of impact, according to court documents.
Defense attorney D. William Subin sought information from Ford about crash tests and the event data recorders in Ford cars, which are used to record crash data such as speed and braking information.
Superior Court Judge Raymond Batten went line by line through through portions of Subin’s request to Ford in hopes of speeding along the process.
“I too want to move this case as directly forward as we can,” Batten said.
Ford attorney Paul Russell offered the court information from Ford engineers as the list of what Ford could and could not supply was whittled down.
“You can imagine the difficulty even speaking to an engineer on the phone,” Russell said of the difficult time the lawyers had translating the technical data.
Russell said there was no crash-testing data related to the powertrain control module used in the Crown Victoria, but there was lengthy testing related to the restraint control module and he offered to supply that information.
First Assistant Prosecutor J. David Meyer said the court would not fully know what information should be exchanged, however, until he obtained an expert report about the event data recorder.
A hearing is still pending on whether Meyer can use an expert, Richard Ruth, who had been in talks with the defense.
Once that issue is settled by Batten, Meyer then expects to obtain his expert report, which will then be the subject of future hearings.
Higbee, meanwhile, remains suspended without pay since his Feb. 27, 2007, indictment.
10 comments:
Trooper Higbee, in my view, made a mistake...a tragic, horrid mistake but a mistake nevertheless. Many lives have been shattered--including the girls' family, the confessed speeder, the Higee family, among others. I certainly hope the jury realizes that there is nothing to be gained from criminalizing an honest mistake. Society would not be served by jailing this dedicated public servant.
Many people make mistakes every day and are forgiven for them. When those mistakes include the taking of human life it goes past the point of forgive and forget. I admire this man for his service, but he made a choice to not follow the laws that he was sworn to uphold. An accident this is not, this is a consequence of making a choice that this trooper will regret for the rest of his life, and he should be on trial for these actions. I do not understand this 'free pass' mentality when it comes to a public servant. If a vietnam veteran had done this, would we then let him or her off to, because they served?
ok... so the first person to leave a comment on here suggest that he should be let off because he is a public servant. no way. There is no one above the law. I would even be all for locking the President up if he did something like this. Do you understand the message that your sending to te family that lost their two girls? First of all he was speeding; he was going 65 mph, almost double the posted speed limit, and ran a stop sign. thats something i see officers do, suprisingly, quite often. i know a few state troopers in my state and i know what they do. They speed around whenever they want to, wether or not they have a reason to be speeding. they do things like this because they can. whos going to stop them? I actually know some troopers who raced to Chik-fil-a and wreck two of the state trooper cars, but all of them walked away from this still employed by the state because guess who got to write the accident report. they did.
im sure i would not be let off with a slap on the wrist and im sure you wouldnt be either. you talk about letting this guy go and im sure you are all for throwing a teen in jail because he has a little bag of weed.
put this trooper in jail. this shouldnt even be an issue. i cant believe people are picking sides on an arguent that is so one sided. This troopers life, in no way, is worth more than those two little girls.
It doesn't matter if he was a state police or not, he is a human who by his judgement killed 2 innocent teens. By the trooper making a mistake or not, it is still not going to bring back those teens lives back. This is all b/s that the court are trying to blame the automakers for their death. I mean, how low can humankind go for the obvious. If justice is not served, then there is not justice system.
Officer Higbee although on duty at the time of the crash was acting as a criminal. Reckless Driving is a criminal offense not a citation. 80 mph is excessive especially in a 35 mph zone and at night. Any fool should know to yeild at a four way intersection. I also believe he knows this zone very well since he patrols it so the bs about the sign wasnt able to be seen is just that; bs. Most of these young cops act like they are invincible and unfortunately 4 people suffered because of this cowboy. Not to mention Higbee's family. He lied and the cops were trying to help him as much as possible to stay out of trouble. Justice needs to be served and policies need to be changed. He denied a 4 year offer I hope the prosecution nails this jerk.
I have been watching this trial very close. I have lived in Cape May County most of my life and I know how small of community this is. I want to commend Trooper Higbee's wife for standing by her man. That takes a H*ll of a person. My thoughts are with the victims families and friends. This Trooper should not be on trial in criminal court as this was taken care on the civil court level. He was found guilty and the mother received 2 million dollars. As,I feel that you can not place an amount on a child's life. I do feel that this was settled then and should not have been brought to a crimial court. I myself can say that by accident I have ran a stop sign or light before. Has anyone rode by this intersection now? That information on the changes in the intersection should be available to the jury. It is lit up like the Fourth of July. Trooper Higbee was closing the gap and in turn had tunnel vision. In return hit a minivan with two girls (one of which should not have been behind the wheel as she had a cinderella's license). This do not excuse the accident at hand but let's face it...it was an ACCIDENT on the job. When was the last time that you made a decision or a judgement call that you wish you could take back? Probably, because we are HUMAN it was yesterday. Did you get fired? Did you get taken to criminal court? Think outside of the box and stop being judgemental because a Trooper or other law enforcement wrote you a ticket that was warrant.
I live in the area of this accident, in fact was directed around it the night it occurred. It was just an accident. Trooper Higbee was doing his job and resulted in an accident. The speeder that was at the next intersection is who was the reason for the accident - knew he was the reason and didn't even come forwward - he let Higbee take the blame for the longest time before anyone found out his identity. Watching the trial you learned that not only was he speeding, he didn't have his headlights on when he passed the trooper. Trooper Higbee did what he was trained to do - he didn't know who was in that car, or why they would be driving at night with no lights - suspicious! As for the accident itself - this is the first time ever in the country someone is charged with this crime when alcohol or drugs were not involved - so that proves it is in the wrong court. Also, if you pay attention to the details of the trial, it wasn't the actual accident that killed the girls - it was the head trauma partly as the result of being partially ejected. The driver wasn't supposed to be driving at night or without someone with 3 years experience, let alone an unbelted passenger that caused the partial ejections. It's a tragedy yes, but put the blame where it belongs not making Trooper Higbee a scape goat. The prosecutor is trying to make a name for himself and I feel sorry for those of us that will need police if Trooper Higbee is convicted. You won't see another officer with or without lights and sirens go through another intersection or not "wait" his turn at a stop sign, nor speed to get to you when you call for help. Hope you live close to where the officer is patrolling at the time when you need help - a 25 mile an hour speed limit is going to delay your officer helping you. Think about it next time you or someone you know calls 911 - how quickly do you expect them there?? If it "takes to long" there's always someone saying what took so long....plan on it being longer if he's convicted. I pray for Trooper Higbee and his family - there is no way they should be going through this !
I agree with those who said this is only an accident, an honest mistake. I'm sure there are more than enough convicts in prison who've made honest mistakes, it's called criminal negligence. Higbee needs to sue his trainers and supervisors if he feels he was doing his job properly, correctly and professionally. It's obvious his protocol in carrying out his job and so-called honest mistake/accident that night are evidence he was criminally negligent since it ended with two innocent deaths and is an extremely good example of how NOT to properly pull over a speeder to write a citation.
As for the contention that the driver shouldn't have been on the road due to a "cinderella license," fair enough but I'm pretty sure the penalty for that offense isn't the death penalty. If the dead driver was driving in an unsafe manner I'm sure that would have been brought up by now since Higbee and his lawyer are pulling out all stops to get him off rather than accept responsibility for his criminally negligent reckless driving.
Ignore common sense and the laws of nature at your own risk, Higbee's driving decisions were taking a very high risk, he gambled and lost. So Higbee put his own life (and those of the other motorists and those present on that street), freedom, well being and that of his family at great risk when he drove in an unsafe manner to cite one speeder with no regard to others' safety while doing it. That's seriously bad judgement, reckless and crosses the line to criminally negligent.
His complaints about the system and he was only doing his job are bogus and do not excuse his criminally negligent behavior. So Higbee can spend some time with other convicts who think risking another's life and limb while doing one's job comes without consequences when they make mistakes of such tragic proportions.
It's pretty simple, take responsibility for your actions. Drive at dangerously high speeds in the dark, at dimly lit intersections while failing to at least yield at a stop sign and you alone assume the penalties for such risky, dangerous behavior. He should have realized that before his actions caused such tragic results and that qualifies as criminal behavior. Trooper Higbee's inability to accept the consequences of his actions shows how much of a weasel he is and how unsuited he is for doing the job of state trooper safely and intelligently while limiting the reckless endangerment of innocent people's lives and property, especially over a speeding ticket. Take it like a man Higbee, stop whining and protesting like an irresponsible, gutless, spineless spoiled kid. And to his irresponsible illogical supporters, stop encouraging him to do the wrong thing by trying to escape just punishment for his criminally negligent actions.
You Cats are unbelievable.... Oh, sure, he's a cop, doing his job, lets go ahead and let him off the hook.. Not "his fault". I am appalled, ashamed, and terribly sorry for this heartbroken family. …This guy in jail won’t bring them back, but it establishes “acceptable” vs. not acceptable. It says we agree a wrong has been committed. Geezus, at least one of you "dare" to go after the victim? These Two Young Girls that didn’t even know what hit em… to catch wha???? “a speeder”… OMIGAWD ppl! Stop. Stop. Think. reason. and cut the crap, and fear mongering about "we didn't know who was in that speeding car.." Turn of the TV chicken little... This is negligent manslaughter…. When a young innocent victim is “killed” — someone is reasonable. This verdict means — No one is “responsible” … This guy should have been convicted…maybe a light sentence, but he was responsible… No two ways about it.. Anyone who agrees with this “decision” — May God, and your soul forgive you…
You people saying 'forgive and forget' haven't lost two daughters to a pig who was speeding at 65mph without his siren or flashing lights when he rammed into their mini van killing them both.
There is no forgiveness for vehicular manslaughter, no matter how accidental. Whether or not you intended to kill them, you still killed them.
And yet he was acquitted yesterday. Makes me vomit.
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