No criminal charges will be filed against a former Warrenton police officer who was involved in a fatal car wreck while responding to an emergency call. 

 Donald Wood, 59, of Warrenton, was killed in the crash which occurred on March 14. 

According to police reports, Wood turned into the path of Officer Kyle Smith’s police cruiser on Highway 47 at the Ash Road intersection. Smith had his lights and siren activated.

Warren County Prosecutor Mike Wright said his decision not to issue criminal charges in the crash was made after reviewing the Highway Patrol’s reconstruction report, the dashboard camera mounted inside Smith’s vehicle and a trailing officer’s, and the Warrenton Police Department’s policy on emergency response. He also interviewed two Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers who responded to the accident scene.

Wright noted the highway patrol did not request that charges be filed. But due to the circumstances surrounding the case, the prosecutor’s office further investigated the fatal crash to see if charges were warranted.

“Based on that review, and speaking with the officers, my office will not be taking any action from a criminal standpoint,” Wright told The Record.

At issue was whether Smith was speeding excessively while responding to the aid of another officer who had radioed for assistance after having trouble arresting a subject several blocks away from where the crash occurred.

According to reports, Smith was traveling between 87 and 99 mph when the accident occurred.

The patrol reported that Wood had stopped in the northbound lane and was turning onto Ash Road at 12:13 p.m. At the same time, Smith was northbound in the southbound lane, passing a line of traffic and collided with Wood’s 2004 Pontiac Grand Am.

Wood was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:55 p.m.

Smith, 24, was fired in a May 4 closed meeting by Warrenton aldermen, after being placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation. He had been with the department for three years.

The Warrenton Police Department’s policy for emergency situations states speeds for responses shall be restricted to 10 mph over the speed limit on city streets and 15 mph on all state-maintained roadways unless the responding officer can justify operating at a speed that exceeds these guidelines.

In the reconstruction report, the patrol noted that Wood’s vision may have been obstructed by two pickups directly behind him and that his hearing could have been affected if his car radio was on.

Measuring from the video, investigators said the left side of Woods’ vehicle was visible for at least 493 feet. The left turn signal is visible 174 feet from the area where the cars collided. At 99 mph, Smith was traveling 145 feet per second. At that speed, the accident was unavoidable, the report said.

The report also said Wood had the responsibility to yield to an emergency vehicle, but that a decision to respond to the oncoming police car “would have been influenced by his experience and expectations as he traveled north on” Highway 47 and began to turn left onto Ash Road.

The patrol also noted that Smith had a responsibility to operate the vehicle “in a manner that did not endanger property or life.”

With no shoulders on Highway 47, Wright said Smith could have thought the vehicles had stopped for him to pass. On the other hand, Wood likely never heard Smith approaching, he added.

“The fact (Smith) was a police officer was one of the factors that I look at  and took into consideration,” Wright explained. “As a police officer responding to a call, there was a request to him to (‘pick) it up,’ or speed up, to get to that particular call and that was the action he took. I think Officer Smith made some very poor decisions in his response to this particular scene, but I don’t believe they rose to the matter of criminal intent.”

Mathematically, the patrol report concluded that Smith’s vehicle speed was 87 mph. But the speed may have been higher based on sensing diagnostic modules in Smith’s police car that were reviewed by investigators.

The vehicle data said Smith was driving 99 mph 2.5 seconds and 93 mph 0.5 seconds before algorithm enable, the point where the vehicle’s system recognizes deceleration and begins the process of determining whether air bags should be deployed.

In contrast, Wood’s vehicle was going 9 mph as he was making the turn, according to the report.

The posted speed limit in the area where the crash occurred is 50 mph.