Late in the evening of January 31, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Troopers Keith Burch and Nicholas Dees stopped along a stretch of Interstate 40 in PottawatomieCounty to investigate an accident scene. The troopers set up flashing lights, and parked a patrol car in such a way to prevent vehicles from crashinginto an overturned tractor trailer. Moments later, a Honda Civic came barreling through the barricades and plowed into the troopers, injuring Burchand killing Dees.
The driver, Steven Wayne Clark was texting at the time of the crash.
The accident prompted legislators to name the state's new texting-while-driving ban after the troopers. The Trooper Nicholas Dees and Keith Burch Act of2015 makes texting while driving a primary offense and allows law enforcement to issue a ticket for anyone composing or reading a text or email whiledriving.
Clark pleaded guilty in August to a charge of first degree manslaughter as a result of the accident. And although he claims not to remember the accident,a sentencing hearing this week has revealed details of the collision.
First degree manslaughter is punishable by a minimum of 4 years in prison. Prosecutors are asking for 20 years in prison, but the family of Trooper Deesare pushing for the maximum sentence--life behind bars.
Clark's defense attorney is asking for a more lenient sentence, pointing to Clark's lack of criminal history and saying, "We've all been distracted drivers. Thank God we didn't all kill people."
But prosecutors point to details in the case that indicate Clark was not merely distracted by a single text; rather, he showed a pattern of chronic andsevere distraction while driving.
Clark himself admitted to being "overconfident" and saying that he played games on his phone while driving, read, watched movies, and even made out withgirlfriends while driving. This chronic pattern of distracted driving, say prosecutors, indicates that reckless driving is simply a part of Clark'slifestyle, and necessitates a harsh penalty.
Prosecutors say that Clark received 73 text messages in the two hours he had been on the road from Fort Smith, Arkansas, and that in the same time span,he sent 69 texts. Additionally, they say he received 49 data transmissions. Clark says that he does not remember the accident, but he believes he mayhave been putting the address of a woman he was on his way to meet into his phone's mapping system at the time of the collision.
Prosecutors point out that Clark was engaged to one woman, on his way to meet another, and texting a third at the time of the accident. Clark admittedthat his love life is a "mess," but relationship and fidelity issues should have no bearing on sentencing.
