The Washington State Patrol publicly apologized Wednesday to the family of a man who was killed when a crash-prone trooper accidentally hit him in Mill Creek.
The state Attorney General’s Office agreed to pay Dan and Melodee Loshbaugh of Woodinville $150,000 to settle the couple’s lawsuit against the state, filed after the 2002 death of their 22-year-old son, Brock.
Brock Loshbaugh was crossing the Bothell-Everett Highway at night. The trooper told investigators he never saw the man.
For Brock Loshbaugh’s parents, the cash settlement is secondary to admissions by the state and State Patrol that their son’s death was mishandled and that the trooper who hit him had a driving problem.
In a letter sent to the Loshbaughs last week, Assistant Attorney General Rene Tomiser promised them that along with the cash settlement, state officials and the State Patrol will support policy changes intended to hold troopers more accountable for dangerous driving.
“The dollar amount is guided by law,” Melodee Loshbaugh said. “What’s important is that by filing this judgment, the state took responsibility. … It felt like they finally said, ‘OK we’re owning up.’”
For more than two years, the State Patrol insisted that Trooper Jason Crandall was not at fault in the Feb. 19, 2002, accident. During those two years, the Loshbaughs never saw Crandall’s personnel record.
It wasn’t until a public information disclosure request was filed with the State Patrol that the documents revealed that in the four months before the fatal accident, Crandall was found at fault in two traffic accidents while on patrol.
In the 16 months after the fatality, the trooper was found at fault in three more accidents, including at least one with injuries, also while on patrol.
With each accident, Crandall sat through a disciplinary hearing and was reprimanded, which usually means lost vacation time.
But after at least six accidents in less than two years, Crandall still drives a marked Ford Crown Victoria and patrols highways around south Seattle. He’s never been cited for a driving infraction.
“We’ve gotten past the point of disputing with the Loshbaughs on the fault in this,” Tomiser said Tuesday. “We’re still working with them on some of the nonfinancial issues.
“I don’t expect anything in particular to happen to trooper Crandall. He’s gone through the disciplinary process.”
In his letter to the Loshbaughs, Tomiser said State Patrol Chief Lowell Porter has agreed to make a formal statement “apologizing for the way in which the patrol initially responded” to them. He will “emphasize the importance of being sensitive to the families of individuals who are in the midst of dealing with a sudden tragedy.”
No statement has yet been released.
Porter also promised to arrange a private meeting between Crandall and the Loshbaughs that would “appropriately include expressions of sorrow and regret.”
The chief also promised to make high-ranking State Patrol officials available to meet with the Loshbaughs to discuss possible policy changes.
The letter states Porter will support mandating blood-alcohol testing of everyone, including troopers, who are involved in a fatal accident.
After the accident, Brock Loshbaugh was tested for alcohol but the trooper was not.
Tomiser said Porter also has agreed to support House Bill 1050 in the current legislative session, which would make blood-alcohol testing of officers required by law, bypassing the collective bargaining process.
Dan Loshbaugh said he considers the letter a victory. The promises are an important and meaningful step toward finding justice for his son, he said.
“I’m really satisfied to see the state step up to the plate and take responsibility,” he said. “It feels good, or as good as it can feel.”
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