Family to Sue Sheriff's Office In Teenager's Fatal Crash

Calvert Deputy Was Negligent, Lawyer Says

The family of a teenager killed in a crash involving a Calvert County sheriff's deputy is preparing to sue the sheriff's office, the family's attorney said.

Rachael A. Campbell, 18, of Dunkirk was killed July 24 when her 1997 Buick LeSabre was struck by a 2006 Ford Crown Victoria cruiser driven by Deputy C. Wayne Wells in front of the Apple Greene community at Route 4 and Apple Way.

"We believe the evidence is sufficient to establish his negligence," said Keith Franz, the Campbell family's attorney. "Ultimately, the family wants the person who is responsible to be held accountable. Their daughter did nothing wrong. She could not have known this was going to happen. And no one could."

Wells, 34, was traveling at 110 mph with the cruiser's lights and sirens on as he approached the intersection of northbound Route 4 and Apple Way in Dunkirk, according to two investigations of the crash. The posted speed limit in that area is 45 mph. He was responding to an emergency domestic violence call, according to a collision investigation report released Thursday by Anne Arundel County police Cpl. C. Gregory Russell.

Campbell was trying to cross both northbound lanes of Route 4 when Wells hit her car. The report says that Wells's vehicle was traveling at 83 to 87 mph at the time of impact. Campbell's speed was estimated at 21 mph. Her car caught fire, and she died at the scene.

Russell's report says that "it is difficult to impossible for an untrained person to accurately identify the speed and distance a vehicle is traveling when it is approaching from larger distances." Investigators estimated that Campbell had about half a second to see the cruiser approaching from a distance of 700 feet.

It is unclear whether Campbell was able to identify Wells's cruiser as an emergency vehicle, said a report by Laura L. Martin (R), Calvert's state's attorney.

"It is clear, however, that the blue lights on the approaching emergency vehicle do not have the visibility of the red in the daylight and, that at 100 mph, the vehicle was 'outrunning' its siren, making it more difficult for a reasonable driver to identify the approaching vehicle as an emergency vehicle," Martin said in her report.

Martin also said that although the officer's lights and siren were on, "he is nevertheless trained to be cognizant that in speeds in excess of 80 mph his siren is not audible to oncoming traffic."

The deputy following Wells to the emergency scene turned on her "rumbler," which allows people to hear and feel sirens better than a typical siren, said Sheriff Mike Evans (R). Wells's older cruiser was not equipped with a rumbler.

Wells might also have been so concerned to get to the emergency call that he was not fully paying attention to his immediate surroundings and had "tunnel vision," Martin's report says.

In an interview, Martin said: "Given all of the facts and circumstances, the deputy's speed was unreasonable. . . . It does not reach the level of gross negligence necessary for manslaughter charges. Any citations that have to be issued would have to come from the sheriff's office," she said.

"I also found that Rachael Campbell was not at fault," Martin said.

Evans said that his department is not going to pursue charges against Wells.

"Wells was responding to a call for service. He was responding as fast as he could and as safe as he could. It was the highest response call for someone who needed help," Evans said. "We will do everything in our power to make sure this doesn't happen again."

Evans said his office was reviewing department policies and would make changes.

Franz, the Campbells' attorney, acknowledged the sheriff's plans and said the family is interested in hearing the details in person. The Campbells still intend to pursue litigation, he said.

"If [Wells] had remained in his lane, he would have avoided this crash. And if he had been driving at a reasonable speed for an emergency, he would have been able to react in a way to avoid this crash, but he did neither," Franz said. "Even when responding to an emergency, you must still use reasonable care for the safety of innocent people, and here his speed was so far outside of the boundaries of reasonableness that it led to this tragic consequence where a young girl is killed."