It was dark and raining when a 10-year-old boy in Meridian was hit and killed by a Chevy GMT-400 pickup truck in January. In a police report, “vision obstruction” from bright headlights was listed as a contributing circumstance. Eight months later, the incident is still under review for potential charges with the prosecutor’s office, illustrating how long it takes for these crash investigations to be resolved.
There have been spates of pedestrian deaths this year, both in the early winter and during the later portion of the summer. Some have been horrific, like that of a teenager hit by a dump truck, capturing headlines and the attention of Boiseans. Political action has been swift — with Boise Mayor Lauren McLean announcing the city would adopt Vision Zero — a framework for eliminating all pedestrian deaths.
But legally and criminally, there are still questions left unanswered, in part because investigating crashes with a serious injury or fatality takes a lot of time.
“There’s so many moving parts in a crash reconstruction,” Ada County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Crystal Able said. “It can take anywhere from probably two months — that’s pushing it and doing it really fast and everything falls into line — to up to a year.”
Ada County’s crash reconstruction team does the crash reconstruction for any crash with a serious injury or death that occurs in unincorporated Ada County, Able said. The sheriff’s office also provides the service to Meridian and Garden City, as well as Star and Eagle, the two cities whose police departments are comprised of sheriff’s office officers.
Reconstructionists go out with instruments and measure the crash scene, including distances between the cars that were involved as well as the evidence field.
The reconstructionists download data from a vehicle, including how the car was steering, how fast the driver moved their steering wheel, their speed and whether they were wearing a seat belt.
But some older cars can’t provide that data. And even in newer ones, the sheriff’s office has to get a search warrant to obtain the data. If the driver is alive, authorities have to get consent in order to download information.
“There’s many search warrants that are involved with collecting blood evidence. We are constantly waiting on coroner office reports,” Able said. “They have to put all of the data that they collect when they’re out on scene measuring crashes … they have to enter that and look at it in a computer system.”
Pedestrians walk across the intersection of Idaho and Eighth streets in downtown Boise on Friday.
Once the report is complete, it goes through multiple peer reviews, she said.
It can be hard for reconstructionists to go to the scene sometimes, she said, because there can be dead bodies or bodily fluids left on the roadway.
“If somebody’s seriously injured, paramedics will come. They’ll scoop them up and take them and work on them,” Able said. “There are times when, unfortunately, people do die right at the crash site and paramedics are not taking those bodies.”
But ultimately, Able said completing the investigation can provide closure.
“We want to do everything correct, you know, by the letter of the law,” Able said, “and again, based on the evidence, make the best or provide the best report possible based on the evidence.”
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Bryce Bienz, a crash reconstructionist, added that information requests to hospitals and offices can also add time to the length of the investigation.
There are many factors in a crash, he said, including time of day it happened, the clothing a person was wearing, if a person was walking, biking or scooting when they were hit, and the weather. Whether anyone involved was impaired, where the crash took place and how far the pedestrian was thrown are other factors.
For vehicle-on-vehicle crashes, some factors include the makes, models, any distractions on the drivers’ parts and any issues with the cars.
The Idaho Press requested police reports and investigations for several pedestrian deaths.
A “walk” sign is lit up at the intersection of Idaho and Eighth streets in downtown Boise.
From the Boise Police Department, the Idaho Press requested the reports for the deaths of Connie Buckley, Henry Reents and Jeffrey Garrett. Boise Police denied the request, in part, because it said one of the case reports “has not been approved and/or is still under investigation.”
From both the Meridian Police Department and Ada County Sheriff’s Office, the Idaho Press requested information into the death of 10-year-old Drayko Gaudlip — the boy who was killed on that dark, rainy night eight months ago.
Meridian Police denied the request, a total of 376 pages, and said that the case was still in screening with the prosecutor’s office. The sheriff’s office provided the collision report, but denied the related police report.
The Idaho State Police said the death of Jose Holden is pending or ongoing and documents were “not releasable at this time.”
Only one report provided an answer:
On May 15, 2023, 67-year-old Connie Buckley was hit and killed by a Jeep at the intersection of McMillan and Eagle roads. But police said in a report approved on May 16, 2023, that Buckley was at fault.
A Boise Police spokesperson said there was a detailed investigation with a crash reconstruction. Buckley’s report was released because she was at fault, and because she was dead, there were no charges.
“Connie Buckley, as she was riding her bicycle, failed to yield at a red light prior to entering an intersection and was struck by a vehicle,” the police report said.
It is unclear who was at fault in the other aforementioned crashes.
Carolyn Komatsoulis covers Boise, Meridian and Ada County. Contact her at 208-465-8107 or ckomatsoulis@idahopress.com and follow her on Twitter @CKomatsoulis.
