“We humbly apologize.”
Those are words no appointed state official wants to utter to the chairman of a key legislative committee after just three weeks on the job.
But Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste had little choice in making that apology after a state legislator received a barrage of nasty, even threatening, e-mail messages apparently sent by troopers and their families.
Batiste, who took the top WSP job earlier this month, offered the apology “as an individual and as a group,” to House Transportation Chairman Ed Murray, D-Seattle, and Rep. Toby Nixon, R-Kirkland, at a committee hearing Wednesday evening. “I and the union representative want to apologize for the behavior of a few,” he said.
Those few ripped into Nixon for sponsoring a bill on how traffic accidents involving state troopers are handled. The legislation grew out of the February 2002 death of Brock Loshbaugh as he tried to cross the Bothell-Everett Highway in Mill Creek one evening after dark.
The trooper whose vehicle hit him, Jason Crandall, had been a member of the State Patrol for only about eight months at the time of Loshbaugh’s death but had been involved in two previous accidents and reportedly has been involved in three other accidents since. The state has settled a lawsuit with Loshbaugh’s parents, who are outspoken proponents of the legislation, also known as the “Brock Loshbaugh Act.” The State Patrol cleared Crandall of any wrongdoing in the accident. He is apparently still on the road.
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Hi,
ReplyDeleteI'm Brock's mom. Just an FYI-Crandall, the officer that killed Brock was actually fired for lying about a year after the Bill was passed. No surprise there.
Thanks for writing about Brock and his story.
Melodee
fired for lying about a year after the Bill was passed. No surprise there.
DeleteSome compensation, however small. I know you miss your son. Although my name is William Brock Townsend, Jr. I go by Brock since my mother detested the Southern tradition of Big Bill and Little Bill.:) Brock came from my great grandmother, Barbara Anne Brock from NC. Any relation by chance?