Trooper leaves scene of crash, allows victim to burn.

[Moped]

I remember the crash, but knew nothing about the officer's involvement until last night when I saw the video on the local news. I suspect while watching a video on a computer screen, it might be hard to pick up the car that's crashed into a tree, 15 feet from the edge of the road. Watching it on a 27" TV made it very evident that there was a crashed vehicle up against that tree. You could even see the smoke starting to come from the engine compartment as the trooper passed. I know this road and I know where the tree is. The topography is flat as a pancake. There is a field there that is kept mowed. There was nothing to hide the car at all. The slow down was the nail in the coffin for me. It was evident in my mind at least, that the Trooper saw something. Maybe he didn't know what it was, but it should have been evident in my mind. Obviously, Col. Trott, Commander of the Highway Patrol thought so to. He flew into Knoxville and personally drove the road three times at the speed recorded by the Officer's car and determined that there was no way Trooper Morgan could NOT have saw the accident. His attempt to put out the flames was poor at best and his statements to the investigators didn't help his cause either. I think it was pretty much a slam dunk that he should be fired.

In a court of law, I would also have a hard time siding with the state. As for speeding on Emory Road at 3 in the morning, it wasn't very evident to me that there were many people out to be endangered. I do suspect that this young man, he was too old to call be called a kid, was probably under the influence, but I guess we will never know.

In my mind this was one fool chasing another fool, with bad consequences.

As for blaming the parents, I think this is a little harsh. People do stupid things. We all did when we were young. It wasn't our parents fault anymore than it was the man in the moon. Blame it on the young man that died.

[sigbrown1297]

I don't care what anyone says, that guy should be fired. You can see the car at 1:20. He slowed down and after he passed it up, he speed up again and says he's terminating the chase. There is no way that he could have missed that car. Parked car in a tree my ass. He says he tried to put the fire out. Right.... He rolls up to the car at 5:40 and sees it on fire, He doesn't get out with the fire extinguisher until 6:40. Then his lame attempt to put out the fire spaying it all over the place but the flame. WTF? Everyone knows you shoot it as the base not the top of the flame.

Edited February 4, 2012 by sigbrown1297

[Guest tommy62]

The THP trooper and the perp are toast.

[Guest lostpass]

I dont know about you folks but I usually don't park my car around a tree and then light it on fire to the point where smoke is 20-25 feet in the air.

Clearly, you've never seen my sister park.

[runningfree]

This is a pic of where the wreck occured. The tree up from the black car is where ther wreck was.

I watched the video and missed it the first time by. I did notice he slowed down. I think he slowed to look up the road to the right to look for tail lights. Looks to me the kid topped the hill and keep going straight into the tree or cut to soon for the turn to the right.

[Guest lostpass]

This is a pic of where the wreck occured. The tree up from the black car is where ther wreck was.

I watched the video and missed it the first time by. I did notice he slowed down. I think he slowed to look up the road to the right to look for tail lights. Looks to me the kid topped the hill and keep going straight into the tree or cut to soon for the turn to the right.

I'd bet he hit the intersection and just kept going straight. Hard to see how the trooper missed the wreck. But with the way he is getting thrown under the bus buy the department it had to be really egregious.