The Case

Here is an update on the status of the case against the other driver. Since not everyone knows the history of the whole thing, I will start from the beginning.

The name of the other driver is David Nathanial Cook. He is 20 years old and lives a little over an hour east of where we live. He lives with his dad and his sister. It is my understanding that he has no history of accidents or criminal charges.

Before the accident, he left home and traveled west. He told the police that he was going to a town halfway in between our two towns to see a friend. However, he says he never ended up seeing the friend – instead he kept heading west, going nowhere in particular; he says he was just driving. He eventually came to Rt 156, which runs due north/south through the our town. He turned south on Rt 156, heading toward town. At some point he began traveling at very high speed. We had originally been told that people saw him driving like this and called 911, but that turned out to be untrue.

Just before the accident, a police officer was setting up a radar trap on Rt. 156. He pulled off to the side of the road, pointing north. The officer got out of the car and was standing near it when he saw Cook coming toward him, heading south at very high speed. Just after the officer saw him, Cook attempted to pass the car ahead of him, and started to lose control of the car. He crossed fully through the northbound lane and nearly hit the officer, then pulled back into the southbound lane. The officer got into the car and pulled out, doing a u-turn to get behind Cook. After the u-turn, Cook again crossed the center of the road, and hit Kirk.

For some reason, I’m not sure why, the officer chose to go to Cook’s car (this bothers me – why didn’t he go to Kirk?). Meanwhile witnesses who stopped went to try to help Kirk. It is my understanding there were two people, a man and a woman, who went to his car, but they couldn’t do anything; he was too badly hurt and passed away very fast after they got there. The police officer found Cook in his car conscious. I believe his leg was stuck – he was saying it was hurt. Because of the severity of the accident, a helicopter was called to transport him to the hospital. Before getting in, he told the officer he had been traveling 110 mph. I am told the officer was extremely distraught and angry, and repeatedly yelled at Cook that he had killed someone. According to the police, he did not react or seem concerned. One thing that is very strange is that Cook was driving barefoot and had no pants on – just boxer shorts. He gave no explanation for why. One theory is that he actually did go see the person he was supposed to see and that something happened there to cause him to be partially undressed and to leave there without getting dressed.

Cook had a broken foot and was released that night. Due to the necessity of attending to his medical needs, he was not given a breathalyzer, but blood for a drug and alcohol test was taken at the hospital (the results came back recently, and they were completely clean).

The next day, the police went to his home to interview him. He still offered no explanation for anything. According to the police, the house he lived in seems to revolve around him. The dining room was set up as a game and weight room for him, with a big screen TV, video systems, and weight lifting equipment. He and his father talked quite a bit about his success as a high school football player, and said that he was scheduled to start playing semi-pro football in August for a team based out of San Antonio. The family dynamic appears to be that the sister takes orders from him. The impression of the police from their observations and what they heard from the family is that he had been the football hero in high school, and had been the center of attention and not held accountable for his behavior for most of his life.

They decided to arrest him and charge him with manslaughter. Normally they would not have made an arrest until after the tests were back, and until the accident scene reconstruction was complete. However, they were concerned that if he started the football job they might be unable to locate him when they wanted to arrest him. They made the arrest at his house that day. He went to jail, made bail and was released. For anyone who wants to see it, you can view his arrest record and a link to his mug shot here:
http://justice.dentoncounty.com/isapi/UVlink.isa/dentonco/WEBSERV/JailSearch?action%253Dview%26track%253D231965329

The next step is for the police to send the case to the DA. It is ready to go except for the fact that the accident reconstruction is still not available. The reconstruction is the mathematical analysis that will provide hard evidence of exactly what happened, how fast he was going, etc. The problem is that our police department is too small to have someone trained to do this on their staff, so they rely on neighboring jurisdictions to help. The person doing the work has his own job to do, and apparently it takes priority over the work he does for our town. I spoke to the Chief of Police of our town yesterday, and he says he was told that the report is now done, but that the guy who did it is on vacation, and they will have him send it over when he gets back next week. I’ll believe it when I see it. Up until now, I haven’t known his name and the town he works for, but I found out yesterday. If it doesn’t come next week, I will start calling over there because it is ridiculous that it is taking so long.

At any rate, once the our police have it, they will send the case to the DA, who will decide if they want to stick with the manslaughter charge, or charge him with a higher crime. I am told the options would be either aggravated assault or criminally negligent homicide, both of which are more serious charges. The manslaughter charge carries a penalty of 2 – 20 years; I’m not sure about the higher charges. After they decide, the case will go to a grand jury. I’m told this will probably not happen for about 3 months after the DA gets the case. Assuming the grand jury returns an indictment (I’m told there is 100% confidence that they will), it will be assigned to a different DA to prepare for trial. It will probably take 6 to 12 months from that point to get to trial.

I try to make sure I do not count on punishment for him to help me recover. I go through phases of how I feel. Sometimes I want him held responsible, sometimes I almost don’t even care – it doesn’t change the outcome. I am told that the DA will consult with us about their decision regarding potential charges as well as the possibility of a plea bargain – hopefully that’s true.

So this is what I know for now. Sorry it was so long – it’s a lot to explain. I’ll keep you posted – thanks for listening.