Dismissal sought in Taylorsville officer's case

The trial of a Taylorsville police officer charged with negligent homicide following a 2007 traffic accident was scheduled to begin today. But the case appears to be headed first for another pre-trial showdown over the issue of department policy vs. state law.

Monday, defense attorney Ed Brass filed a motion to have one of the state's witnesses not be allowed to testify and another motion to have the case dismissed altogether.

Officer Joseph Corbett was responding with lights and sirens in his police car on Feb. 7, 2007, to assist other officers involved in a high-speed chase. Corbett was not part of the chase himself but was trying to get to an area where he could lay tire spikes to stop the fleeing suspect.

About 12:40 a.m., at the intersection of 4700 South and Redwood Road, Corbett's vehicle crashed into another car, driven by John Terry Douglas, 27, of Tooele. Douglas was killed in the crash.

The defense says Douglas was driving with the pain medication Tramadol in his system at the time of the crash, that he was text messaging while driving, that Corbett's red and blue lights and siren were activated and that Corbett had a green light.

Prosecutors contend the light for Corbett was red and that he did not properly "clear" the intersection.

One of the ongoing points 3rd District Judge Robert Adkins has made during the proceedings is that departmental policy does not hold the same weight as state law. Adkins has ruled that neither the Taylorsville Police Department's nor the Department of Public Safety's emergency vehicle driving policies can be admitted in court because they are not law.

Adkins did allow a motion by the state last week to let a POST driving instructor testify on what each candidate is taught.

However, Brass argues it will only result in more policies being presented.

"It has no force of law, it has no force of an administrative rule, it is merely the product of one committee's notion of what the ideal pursuit policy should be," he said in court documents.

Although Brass said he's sure what the instructor is teaching is good and would make the roads safer, his lessons essentially amount to personal opinion.

Furthermore, Brass said DPS had been instructed at some point by the Utah Legislature to establish minimum standards for emergency driving for the entire state to follow, but had yet to do so.