OLYMPIA – A revised “Brock’s Bill,” which would hold Washington State Patrol troopers more accountable when they cause serious traffic accidents, was approved by the state House of Representatives on Friday.
Lawmakers say they expect it to pass in the Senate as well.
Named after a Mill Creek man who died after he was hit by a trooper’s patrol car while crossing a street, the bill has evolved through at least four versions since it was first proposed during the 2004 legislative session.
The previous version included all the state’s law enforcement officers in a set of new laws and policies that originally were intended to address the way the State Patrol investigates and deals with accidents caused by troopers.
After that version of House Bill 1387 met heated opposition from the State Patrol and the troopers’ association at a House Transportation Committee hearing in February, the bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. Toby Nixon, R-Kirkland, and Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, hammered out a compromise with the troopers.
The latest version returns to addressing only the State Patrol, and it takes a less prescriptive approach in specifying new policies the State Patrol must adopt for tracking trooper-involved accidents and disciplining troopers found at fault.
The bill calls for the State Patrol to develop a set of policies and terms for its collective bargaining agreements with the troopers union. That would include a policy of progressive discipline and training for troopers who repeatedly are found at fault in accidents while on duty.
Patrol spokesman Capt. Jeff DeVere said the new version of Brock’s Bill is an acceptable compromise.
“We had troopers who would be removed from the road for collisions for which they were found not at fault,” DeVere said of the bill’s pervious version.
The bill is named after Brock Loshbaugh, 22, who was struck by a trooper’s vehicle while crossing a road in Mill Creek in February 2002. Because Loshbaugh had been drinking and was crossing outside a crosswalk, the trooper was cleared.
Despite his exoneration in that death, the trooper, Jason Crandall, was found at fault in five other on-duty accidents, including some with injuries, all within a two-year period. Crandall never received a driving citation, and he still patrols Western Washington highways.
“We expect everybody to be treated equal in enforcing traffic laws and investigating accidents,” Nixon said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
