Rest in Peace Larry Schofield (65)
One Gillette man was dead and another one was in jail waiting to be charged with a crime Monday morning following a hit-and-run wreck.
Highway Patrol troopers say Larry Schofield, 65, was killed instantly while operating his tow truck Sunday night alongside Interstate 90 when a suspected drunken driver hit him.
Schofield, who worked for Camel Towing, had been called at 8:10 p.m. to tow a van that was disabled after it hit a deer at the end of the eastbound on-ramp to the interstate from South Douglas Highway. The van Schofield was towing wasn’t in traffic and he had just begun to run the controls on the driver’s side of his truck to hoist the van when he was hit, according to Highway Patrol Lt. Will Zilka.
A handful of emergency vehicles were at the scene — all with their emergency lights flashing — when Schofield was hit, according to Zilka.
Schofield, whose truck was well off of the roadway near the end of the on-ramp, had little or no time to react before he was hit.
“I can’t see how he could have gotten out of the way,” Zilka said.
Troopers say that Justin L. Helsper, 28, was headed east on the interstate but failed to move over or slow his silver 2001 Chevrolet pickup before he hit Schofield. Helsper continued to drive east toward his home near American Ranch Road, Zilka said.
He was arrested a short time later on suspicion of aggravated vehicular homicide, a felony.
A trooper who was at the scene when it happened, called another nearby trooper who saw Helsper’s truck a few miles east of the wreck. That trooper followed Helsper for about a half mile, observing that his passenger side headlight was broken and there was blood on his truck, before pulling him over.
Zilka described Helsper as “very intoxicated,” although the man refused to participate in field sobriety maneuvers or to take a Breathylizer test. After arresting him, the troopers submitted and were granted a warrant to take Helsper’s blood for analysis to determine whether he was drinking and driving.
A crash reconstructionist was working on determining the particulars of the wreck Monday morning. Troopers are unsure exactly how fast Helsper was driving when he hit Schofield, but say he made no effort to move over to the left-hand lane, nor did he slow his truck before passing the tow truck.
“There was nothing preventing him from moving to the left or from slowing down for that matter,” Zilka said. “We have no reason to believe he was going less than that (the speed limit). When people make those decisions, it costs everybody.”
Both sheriff’s deputies and police officers responded to help the Highway Patrol with the wreck.
Police closed the interstate and sent traffic around the scene for about four hours, Police Sgt. Dirk Blackmer said.
Troopers collected a variety of evidence for their case against Helsper, including video of his truck in the area, Zilka said.
R.I.P brave soul please watch over the rest of us
ReplyDelete