Dead Faint | Accident Investigators | Episode 5 | FD Real Show

[Music] next on accident investigator a man is found dead in a ditch after being ejected from the passenger seat of a car involved in a strange accident but the driver's version of the crash does not match up with the roadway evidence it has been just through a very traumatic experience he has lost a friend he could be confused he could be disoriented or he could be lying then a young woman has a horrible death when her car leaves the road for no apparent reason called on the scene investigators are mystified by what may have caused the crash i had nothing to go on at this point this girl just ran off the road for no reason there was no evidence on this vehicle whatsoever that she had been impacted or sideswiped by another vehicle and the boy is killed when a car leaves the road and violently crashes into a corn stand but strangely the uninjured driver remains surprisingly calm listen donald try to get out of the car okay sure he was in shock from having been in a crash but his behavior just seemed a little bit different from what i'd seen in the past every year violent collisions kill 3 000 canadians and injure another 200 000 but there is no such thing as an accident every collision has a story as unique as the people involved rusty hate is a leading authority on accident reconstruction he trains investigators around the world to read the clues and solve the mysteries accident investigators have to rely on physical evidence when they analyze a crash sometimes there are no eyewitnesses and even when there are they may not be a reliable source of objective information they're people and whether they're drivers or some independent witness they may have a distorted perspective on the crash they may not have seen the whole thing they may even be in shock they may also be trying to hide something and that's what joe hancock's gonna have to figure out in this complicated case it's a warm summer evening on a quiet country road and 28 year old jan taylor is slowly regaining consciousness surveying the scene it's clear he's been in an accident but the details are still fuzzy as he gets out of his car he remembers that he was not alone in the vehicle his friend carl weinberger was in the passenger seat but suddenly he's disappeared searching the tall weeds along the roadside he eventually stumbles upon the still body of his longtime friend lying in a shallow ditch several meters into the brush accident reconstructionist joe hancock is immediately called in to head up the investigation joe quickly learns that he's got one dead passenger on his hands and an injured driver it's clear that carl weinberger was ejected through the passenger window and most likely died on impact the driver jan taylor suffered only minor injuries but is sent to the hospital for overnight observation when i get a call for a single vehicle crash based on my experience i'm expecting to see one car into either a tree a wall a guardrail with one set of skid marks left side and right side that don't cross each other and looking at the roadway there are numerous tire marks scuff marks curve marks change direction marks and debris in the roadway as joe inspects the car he is immediately able to rule out a single vehicle accident behind the rear wheel on the driver's side is a long rip the metal has been peeled back and the rear bumper has been partially ripped off in this vehicle i noticed severe damage along the driver's side of the car basically starting from the b pillar the pillar right behind the driver's door and going back towards the rear bumper i also noticed that the rear bumper was bent backwards towards the rear of the vehicle and looking at the car i saw that there was a paint transfer on the car there was some red paint transfer and also looking at the damage i noticed that the damage was from a movement going front to rear now joe is certain he's looking for a second vehicle this is a clear case of hit and run in a hit and run every mark every piece of roadway debris becomes a potential clue he knows right away that he's looking for a red car and because of the extent of the damage it must have been a larger vehicle surveying the site for more clues he finds another piece of the puzzle one that confirms his theory about the second vehicle i noticed a large pool of fluid on the ground and looking at the fluid it appeared to be diesel fuel i noticed that it then from the pool let off in a trail and it led down the road this fuel leak is a tremendous stroke of luck and joe immediately orders a trooper to follow the diesel trail at the trail's end he finds a truck parked behind a gas station about 30 kilometers away from the crash site he calls in the plate number and is told that the truck is registered to james higgins they found out that the vehicle belonged to mr higgins and his address was very close by to that location james higgins is at home when the officers arrive he doesn't deny being in a crash in fact he admits to panicking and fleeing the scene but he's not able to recall any details of the crash he just remembers hitting something on first blush the case looks like a cut and dry case of a dwi hit and run and james higgins could be facing serious criminal charges they told me that mr higgins had admitted to being in the crash but that he had panicked at the crash and went home and when he got home he was so upset that he had started to consume alcohol to calm his nerves the officers of course were suspicious and then brought him into the station but then a brief update from the hospital suddenly turns joe's case upside down the officer who accompanied jan taylor to the hospital calls in with a different statement jan is claiming that he was hit from behind and spun out but this doesn't make any sense to joe the damage to jan's car indicates that he was struck by a vehicle coming from the opposite direction certainly not from behind i would expect to see uh damage to the rear of the vehicle going rear to front and into the trunk compartment itself i didn't see that on this car what i saw on this car was a side swipe type of impact from the front to the rear already i'm starting to think well the damage doesn't match up that closely but why would jan taylor say differently he has been just through a very traumatic experience he has lost a friend he could be confused he could be disoriented or he could be lying in his statement jan taylor claims that his car spun around and his friend was thrown out joe knows this much to be true the body of carl weinberger was found only a few meters from the impact marks but joe has a feeling that jan's not telling the whole story whenever a driver's statement conflicts with the evidence the crash scene takes priority joe turns his attention back to the roadway and that's when he notices the collision scuff marks there was a scuff mark indicating that a vehicle had slid sideways and rotated before the impact the roadway evidence clearly shows the car suddenly veering to the left and skidding to a complete stop across both lanes then there's a major impact probably with the truck the arc marks show that he then spins out again and back towards his lane at which point his passenger karl weinberger is thrown from the vehicle this is a critical finding because it says to joe that the car was out of control before the collision but jan taylor is saying something else some of the considerations that are still on the table is that this is a crash that involves being struck from the rear right now the physical evidence is not leaning that way but i have not observed everything and i haven't done all the analysis necessary to come to that conclusion and speaking with mr taylor i'm really hoping to get more information about this crash to help me with my investigation joe heads over to the hospital to interview jan taylor he first examines weinberger's medical report it's a tragic scenario that joe has seen all too often the passenger carl weinberger had died of massive head injuries these head injuries are as a result of bouncing into the grass the passenger was not seat belted the lateral gravitational forces of the spin caused him to go out the passenger window and fall on the ground that's what killed him typically the patients that we see that are ejected from cars are among the most severely injured patients that we have most of them have severe head injuries and cup those are coupled with severe typically orthopedic injuries broken bones broken legs and that is also coupled by blunt injuries to your liver and your spleen so those patients are the ones that we worry about the most the ones that we don't worry about are the ones that are in the car who are have their seat belts on those patients are much less severely injured when joe finds jan taylor he's still recovering from shock and has a nasty bruise on his chest the bruise explains why he'd survived the accident he'd been wearing his seat belt it's unfortunate that he hadn't convinced his friend carl weinberger to do the same joe asks jan to go over the crash for him one more time i did notice uh when i started talking with him that he told me the same story that i had heard over the phone i'm a crash reconstructionist i wanted to make sure that he did understand that this crash did involve a fatality and he did know that his friend had passed away and speaking with him i noticed a couple things one his speech was slightly slurred but this could be due to injury but i wanted to make sure but i also noticed his eyes were a little glassy and that also there was a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath if a driver is involved in a crash that results in a fatality that driver must submit to a blood alcohol test joe decides to wait for the results of the blood test before speaking to jan any further although he suspects that jan taylor is hiding something he doesn't know what or why to find out more about the crash and jan's statements joe heads over to the impound to begin his inspection of the truck coming up as the evidence mounts so does joe's skepticism he made it very clear to me at the hospital that there was just one impact and it was from the rear i knew that the impact was a side swipe and my suspicions started to grow [Music] jan taylor's car is involved in a horrific hit and run police traced the missing vehicle and the driver james higgins to his home higgins admits he left the scene of the crash and immediately started drinking but he doesn't remember much beyond that jan taylor claims that higgins truck hit him from behind but the evidence shows accident investigator joe hancock that taylor's car got sideswiped and a set of skid marks suggest that the car was already out of control at the moment of the impact as the next step joe heads over to the garage to inspect the impounded truck there was very little or any indication of impact at all to the front bumper there were still bugs on the front bumper if nothing else the impact would have wiped away the dirt and the bugs off the front bumper i then walked around the truck trying to look for any other damage and on the driver's side i did find a very long scrape and a series of scrapes down the side of the truck the scrapes had a paint transfer from a greenish-type vehicle also looking at the scrape i noticed that in the middle of the scrape there was actually a perforation of the side of the truck and looking at that and looking underneath the truck i saw that it actually punctured the fuel tank this truck does use diesel fuel it is starting to match up step by step by step item by item meanwhile james higgins is being interrogated by a detective despite his spotty memory about the actual crash he may hold the key to some unanswered questions mr higgins told us that he was driving down the road and that this vehicle now cuts him off he has to steer to the right there's an impact and yes he does leave the scene hagan's story syncs off with joe's opinion that the accident could not have been the result of a strike from behind and he adds one important fact he now admits that he was under the influence of alcohol when the crash occurred yes he is consuming alcohol and that could affect his memory but the physical evidence is supporting what he told me given all the evidence and testimony so far joe believes the scenario could have only played out one way jan taylor lost control of his car he then steered to the right but overreacted trying to regain control and spun out counterclockwise into the path of the oncoming truck as each step of this investigation revealed what really happened each time it convinced me that mr taylor's version of this crash was inaccurate if joe's new theory is correct it would be a critical turning point for the investigation as it suggests the jan taylor rather than higgins could be held responsible for the accident next dispatch informs joe that taylor has been discharged from the hospital but that his blood test revealed he was over the legal alcohol limit with this new information joe heads to jan taylor's house to question him once again meeting mr taylor at his house i then asked him a series of questions and also i let him know that i knew the results of the blood test and i knew that he had been drinking and speaking with him i wanted to know how much alcohol he had to drink and maybe try to convince him that i knew that alcohol was a factor in this case i do think talking with him at his house he then admitted that he had been drinking and that he had been drinking a couple of glasses of beer and that they also might have had a shot of hard liquor after 20 days of investigative work officer joe hancock now feels he has a clear picture of what really happened the day of this tragic collision appreciate it jan taylor and carl weinberger are on their way home from a bar when jan suddenly loses control of his vehicle and spins out james higgins is also driving under the influence he sees jan taylor's car and steers to avoid it but manages to catch the side rear end of the car sending it spinning like a top the impact causes carl weinberger who was not wearing his seat belt to go flying out through the passenger window he then lands hard in a ditch next to the roadway and succumbs almost instantly to head drama and massive internal injuries james higgins in a panic takes off but leaves a trail of leaking diesel fuel from a rip in his gas tank the state attorney's office looks at the case and agrees that james higgins is not responsible for the incident he's charged only with fleeing the scene of a crash the state attorney suspects that jan taylor had been drinking lost control and spun out into oncoming traffic taylor is charged with manslaughter by automobile and homicide by motor vehicle while intoxicated however the jury finds jan taylor not guilty and acquits him on all charges what helped me in this case is that i talk with the family of carl weinberger i talk with the prosecutors and yes we answer their questions while the investigators were able to paint a detailed picture of the accident the prosecution's case against taylor was unsuccessful coming up a young woman dies in an unexplained crash but roadway evidence is offering absolutely no clue as to what might have caused the accident this girl just ran off the road for no reason there was no evidence on this vehicle whatsoever that she had been impacted or sideswiped by another vehicle [Music] sometimes accident investigators come to a realization that a case they're working on may never be resolved that's frustrating for the investigator moreover how do you explain to a grieving mother you may never be able to tell her all about the death of her child that's the kind of situation our investigator robert jones is dealing with here maureen weller is in a fantastic mood she's just finished her first week on the job as a house painter and this morning she's learned that she's been accepted into her top choice of colleges the money she earns on this summer job will help pay for the tuition in the fall as she packs away her tools for the day a co-worker asks maureen if she wants to stay for a drink come on have a beer she joins them on the balcony for a few swigs of cold beer but maureen's been feeling tired all week and is eager to celebrate with her parents before she crashes for the night she takes one last sip and heads out 20 minutes later police get a call about a car lodged up against a tree in the middle of a field but the responding officer could never be prepared for the bizarre and shocking scene that awaits him maureen is unconscious and has been impaled by a branch she's still alive but her pulse is very faint and johnson mayfair and johnson ems requested stat accident investigator robert jones is immediately called to the scene the police department advised me that a branch had gone to the windshield of the car and the firefighter had to cut the branch away from the girl's neck the medics are not optimistic they think the branch may have severed one of maureen's arteries and she's lost a tremendous amount of blood [Music] robert's job is to figure out exactly how and why this freakish accident occurred his first step is to carefully examine maureen's car i walked around in the front of the car to examine the front of the car it was lodged up against a tree there was some minor impact damage to the front of the car but it didn't lead to any kind of significant speed or anything of that nature maureen's car has left a clear imprint of its final moments robert can see where she left the road traveled into the field and made contact with two separate trees but what puzzles him most is that there doesn't appear to be any signs of breaking or skidding the thing going through my mind at this point is what caused this girl to run off the road i didn't know at this point whether she had been drinking using drugs if she fell asleep it was extremely hot this day was 102 degrees the extreme heat outside can clearly make someone tired but it's 6 p.m it seems unlikely that sleep or alcohol would affect a driver so early in the evening robert needs to find more clues to form a theory about what could have happened he now looks at the larger picture of the crash site he walks back along the road looking for anything that might help explain why maureen lost control of her vehicle but the road gives nothing away there's no indication of roadway debris or that another vehicle was involved in the crash there was no evidence on this vehicle whatsoever that she had been impacted or siteswiped by another vehicle robert starts to get a sinking feeling that finding out why maureen's car left the road will be a serious challenge so far he has absolutely no clues i had nothing to go on at this point this girl just ran off the road for no reason robert asks for the car to be impounded he'll want to check for any mechanical failure that could explain the crash then just as he is finishing up with the crash scene robert receives a call from the hospital he isn't surprised to hear the news i received a phone call from the hospital advising me that maureen had died from the injuries to her neck caused by the branch severing her neck since there are no forensic clues robert requests a blood test and a full toxicology report on maureen's body he needs to determine whether she was under the influence of alcohol or drugs prior to the accident then he's faced with the tragic task of informing mrs weller that her daughter is dead this is the most difficult part of the job letting the relative know that their loved one has died i never know what to expect you know i don't know if they're going to be angry or just not even not even believe as soon as maureen's mother opens the door she knows that something is wrong this is not the first time she's had a policeman come knocking at her door with terrible news maureen's mother was devastated by the tragic news and when i tried to explain to her a little bit about what happened in the accident for what little that i knew at that time maureen's mother informed me that she had lost a son about three years ago in an auto accident no that was very difficult to deal with mrs weller is grief stricken and unable to provide robert with much more information than he already knows maureen was simply on her way home from work i'll call you in a few days and unfortunately robert is in a similar predicament what made it even more difficult at this point was that i didn't have any answers for mrs weller [Music] after a full crash scene investigation robert is no further ahead on this case than he'd been at the start what could have caused a young healthy woman to just drive her car off the road surely she saw the trees but why hadn't she tried to avoid them coming up an exhaustive investigation seems to lead to a dead end i was in fear that i would never find the truth behind this case or what caused maureen to run off the road but then a routine test gives robert the break he's looking for [Music] accident investigator robert jones is faced with a mysterious and strange crash site on the way home from work maureen weller suddenly veered into a tree impaling her neck and severing a major artery unable to survive almost total blood loss she dies within the hour but why did maureen's car leave the road in the first place at this point i have no answers in my investigation i'm still looking for any clue that could lead me to what happened here my next step is to go to the garage and conduct what i call a vehicle autopsy i will examine the vehicle from top to bottom look for any kind of mechanical failures anything that could give me some answers in this investigation but the only information that robert can take away from the mechanical inspection is the approximate speed and the fact that maureen was not wearing her seat belt this opens up another possibility maybe the crash was deliberate any time there's a single car accident such as this one and the driver is killed i always have to consider suicide robert will need to meet again with mrs weller to see if he can gather more background information on her daughter this second meeting is calmer but still heartbreakingly sad mrs weller tells robert that maureen was a happy girl she had many friends had been accepted into the university of her choice and was excited to spend the summer working at the house painting job she had no medical problems and was certainly not suicidal she tells robert that if maureen ever drank it was the occasional beer not only because she was underage it just wasn't who she was she informed me that maureen had just taken a job painting houses for a painting company so i'm gonna find out what her condition was during the course of the day to see if there's anything they can tell me about this investigation robert drives to the work site and maureen's bosses are stunned by the news his first question is whether she had been drinking before she left for home they tell robert that they ended their shift with a beer but insist that maureen only drank a few sips so now my investigation reveals that maureen wasn't depressed she wasn't taking any kind of drugs or medication uh there's a there's that possibility that maybe she had a little alcohol but she wasn't a heavy drinker normally in an accident investigation there's physical evidence there there's everything you need to put the pieces back together and put the puzzle back together and everything usually fits you usually have all the answers within a few days but in this case i don't by now it's 5 pm in the afternoon about the same time that maureen left her job the day before robert decides to head back out to the crash site as he examines the scene a second time robert realizes that the sun may have blinded maureen and could be a factor in this case i walked around and i started thinking wow the sun's shining in the windshield of the car it's a possibility and it's something i'm i'm considering at this point okay so you're driving down the road and the sun's really bright in your eyes what do you do well you can start with sunglasses sunglasses are good help but that's not enough the sun's really low how about the visor now that makes it so you can see could the son have played a role in this crash could have blinded a lady when she went into the tree it's possible robert's gonna have to consider that as one of his explanations in this crash the next morning robert returns to the hospital for the toxicology report as he suspected there is no evidence to suggest that maureen was impaired there was no drugs no medication just the slightest bit of alcohol which would indicate that she only had a few sips of beer but there was something to call my attention on the report it was an ebv virus and it was puzzling to me i had to find out what that was i've seen bar virus is it's like a lot of diseases there's different ways it's expressed and one of the common things this causes is mononucleosis and it's something that teenagers get a lot because you generally don't develop it unless you're run down to begin with and you know it starts out with a sore throat you really can't stay awake it's something you could easily ignore until you really are very ill this is a stunning revelation a person suffering from mononucleosis would have a much greater likelihood of falling asleep behind the wheel and not waking up once the car went off the road when i found out what ebv was mononucleosis which is a sleeping sickness finally the final piece of the puzzle fit together and the whole investigation has been concluded after a difficult 10-day investigation robert can now paint a clear picture of the events leading up to maureen's fatal and tragic crash probably a week or so before maureen weller receives her college admission letter she contracts the ebv virus her new job painting houses is hard physical labor outside in the burning sun and she puts down her increasing sense of fatigue to the long hours but on that final day the virus takes hold of her weary body completely on the drive home the sunshine acts as a powerful sedative for marine coupled with her long day and a few sips of beer after work she nods off at the wheel and quickly falls into such a deep sleep that even when her car rolls off the roadway she doesn't wake up she hits a tree and one of the branches severs her carotid artery maureen weller dies within an hour from almost total blood loss mrs weller remains devastated by the loss of her young daughter but she takes some comfort in finally putting to rest the question surrounding her untimely death once i found out about the mononucleosis i had the answer i was looking for i was able to go back to mrs weller and tell her what my findings were and what caused this collision to occur coming up a boy is killed when a car leaves the road and crashes into the corn stand he's attending but the case takes a stunning turn when a witness suggests that the driver may have done it intentionally usually when drivers lose control their vehicle or not paying attention go off the road either use their brakes or swerve because no one wants to hit something while they're driving a car but he didn't exhibit that kind of behavior a good accident investigator is kind of like a jack of all trades he needs to have good police investigative skills have some understanding of some of the basic sciences like physics and mechanics but he's also got to understand a little bit about medicine because we know crashes can injure people but can work the other way around sometimes the human factor and something about the body can lead to a crash on a hot summer morning donald morris takes the scenic route home from church his friend valerie is following in her car behind him donald has invited her over for lunch but decides to stop at a neighboring farm first to buy some fresh corn just up the road danny carlton is helping his dad out for the summer here you go sir thank you very much you're welcome bye traffic is normally heavier on the weekend so danny is expecting a busy day but danny could have never expected what would happen next accident investigator frank carson is on his way to the office when he gets the call about a pedestrian crash before he joined the police nine years earlier frank spent eight years working as an ems personnel so he knows all too well how devastating this type of collision can be when a car hits a pedestrian you've got a forty thousand pound vehicle hitting oh 150 pound person and the winter is usually pretty clear when frank arrives on the scene danny carlton has already been taken to the hospital the responding officer tells frank that the victim has suffered some head injuries and serious trauma to his chest but as an accident investigator frank knows that injury analysis is only one part of his job he will need to scrutinize every aspect of the crash in order to determine exactly what happened here what the officer told me was he had two witnesses one was walking down the street when the accident occurred and the other one was driving behind mr morris he told me that mr morrison card run into the corn for sale stand and that's about all i had to start out with frank soon realizes that the corn stand has been completely destroyed by morris's car which now sits on top of the crushed table a few meters away donald and valerie are sitting on the lawn the officer tells frank that the uninjured morris has remained surprisingly calm since he got out of his car and has barely said a word people's reactions after they're in a crash vary from person to person but they're generally pretty easy to offer what happened in the crash do your favorite valerie did you ever stand by your car when i interviewed donald morris he seemed a little bit out of it but it didn't strike me as being from alcohol or drugs he was confused he answered my questions but kind of had to pull the answers out of him by asking the appropriate questions the interview plods along at a slow pace donald tells frank that he remembers seeing the corn sign but after that point he claims he doesn't recall anything until his friend started knocking on his car window sure he was in shock from having been in a crash but his behavior just seemed a little bit different from what i'd seen in the past then as part of his routine line of questioning frank asks donald whether he's taking any medication mr morse is very surprising in that he knew a lot about the medication he was taking and he knew the names he could describe in detail [Music] when frank recognizes the type of medication morris has to take daily he immediately realizes that his investigation has taken a turn in an uncommon direction when he questions donald about his condition morris calmly confirms to him that he is schizophrenic schizophrenia is one of a collection of conditions called psychotic disorders psychosis is a condition where someone loses their ability to distinguish what's real from what is unreal and a person with schizophrenia generally has hallucinations uh that they hear voices there may be things that they see but any of the senses may be affected feeling pretty good yeah but like many other people living with his condition morris holds a valid and unrestricted driver's license what's the last thing you remember for all this in most jurisdictions schizophrenics are considered to be safe drivers given of course that their condition is correctly medicated as an officer escorts morris to a police car frank turns his attention to the witnesses he starts with valerie barker donald's friend told me that she had been following mr morris and she said that he had been driving just fine for several miles and suddenly when they got towards the corn stand he just seemed to veer off the road she didn't see any brake lights as soon as the crash occurred valerie got out of her car and went over to see if she could help anybody and when she went to mr morse's car he uh was wearing a seat belt he was slumped over and his seat seemed to be grogging just like he had just woken up and didn't know what was going on what had happened to him listen donald try to get out of the car okay where were you however the customer's account of the accident is a little different the man tells frank that he heard donald's car accelerate then saw him drive directly towards the corn stand the customer insists that morris made no attempt to avoid the stand in fact he doesn't think the crash was an accident at all that was his impression of the crash that he did it on purpose after this revelation frank is faced with one very odd possibility some possible explanations for the crash could include auditory hallucinations that tell the person to kill or hurt someone else could donald morris's condition have caused him to run over danny carlton deliberately morris does not seem to be paranoid or aggressive at all he insists that he is very disciplined at taking his medication and that he has not experienced a psychotic episode in many years mr morris was was actually a very cooperative um driver one of the more cooperative ones i've dealt with with witnesses offering conflicting versions of the crash frank turns his attention to the roadway evidence the final resting point of donald's car tells frank that he was probably traveling well within the speed limit but the absence of tire marks on the asphalt confirms that donald made no attempt to avoid the collision usually when drivers lose control their vehicle or not paying attention go off the road and either use their brakes or swerve because no one wants to hit something while they're driving a car but he didn't exhibit that kind of behavior as he wraps up his investigation at the scene frank receives an important phone call from the hospital i received a phone call from the hospital about an hour after i was on the scene the hospital personnel told me danny carlton had in fact died from the injuries that he sustained in the crash how long ago when donald's car violently collided with the corn stand the force was transmitted directly through the table and into danny's chest resulting in massive internal injuries a few minutes after arriving at the hospital danny carlton dies from internal bleeding not that any crash isn't important to investigate but now someone's life has been lost and so that puts a little bit more pressure on you as an investigator to find out exactly how the crash happened why it happened first of all did mr morris do it on purpose the other possibility is he had a blackout maybe a reaction from medication he was taking maybe he wasn't taking his medication properly because mr morse is uh being at fault for the collision at least at this point well he could be facing some pretty serious charges coming up a mysterious bruise on the suspect's nose sends investigator frank carson on a new trail it didn't look like he was brand new it looked like he was about a day old so then i'm thinking that maybe he had some kind of trauma the day before [Music] a boy is killed when a car leaves the road and crashes into the corn stand he's attending investigator frank carson learns that the driver is schizophrenic and suspects that the cause of the crash may have something to do with his condition when the first paramedics arrived on the scene donald morris refused medical assistance but now frank notices a small laceration on his nose it didn't look like it was brand new it looked like he was about a day old so then i'm thinking that maybe he had some kind of trauma the day before when frank questions him about his nose donald explains that he had slipped the day before and hit his face on the kitchen counter and i asked him why he fell if he tripped over something he said no he just kind of felt dizzy and he fell and the next thing he remembered he was getting up off the floor so that leads me to think at this point that okay maybe he has an underlying medical condition that made him fall the day before and maybe he's having that same problem today in order to sort through the possible causes for the crash frank convinces donald to seek medical treatment and accompanies him to the closest er at the hospital donald morris is admitted right away and seen by dr vanessa brown the doctor quickly orders a blood test she wants to check for the presence of alcohol or drugs in the suspect's system but in order to rule out the other possible causes for the crash a number of other tests will have to be run one of the more important things i wanted to see from the blood tests was to check and see if mr morris's medication that he was supposed to be taking for his mental problems was at a nice therapeutic level meaning he was taking his medication the way he's supposed to and they were doing what they were supposed to keep him keep him emotionally and psychologically level and able to function properly since he had fallen the day before in his kitchen morris undergoes a ct scan to rule out the possibility that any head injury may have caused his strange behavior in the meantime frank meets with dr brown to discuss the results of the blood test that just came in well the tests showed that the medication level in his bloodstream was appropriate and he hadn't been consuming alcohol or any other drugs that might impair his driving those results rule out a psychotic episode and frank is inclined to dismiss the deliberate hit theory on her side dr brown rules out the possibility that there was a complication with one of donald's prescriptions none of the drugs he was on were known to cause blackouts the doctor was of the opinion that mr morris was just pretending that he didn't remember anything because he'd hit a pedestrian he'd kill somebody and he didn't want to accept responsibility for that i disagreed with that just based on my experience and dealing with people for the years i have i just had the impression there's something else going on this mr morse frank goes back to donald morris to ask whether he can remember anything else about the crash but the more frank talks to him the more he's convinced that morris is not lying about the blackout the doctors looked at that now the doctor thought that uh he was just lying to me but when people lie their stories tend to change a little bit over time little details change but mr morris's story had been consistent every time i talked to him he told me the exact same story as did the witnesses which led me to believe that there's just got to be something else going on here what did your what did you test show anything frank then tries to convince dr brown to refer donald to a neurologist for more tests it's not an easy task dr brown informs him that morris's ct scan revealed no abnormality and that she could find no medical grounds to explain the crash but frank is persistent and pushes hard for the referral i explained to dr brown that this man is facing very serious charges motor vehicle manslaughter charges it can carry a very heavy penalty in jail time and it was my responsibility to do a thorough investigation and rule in or rule out the possibility of a medical problem finally the doctor agrees to schedule a full neurological exam for the next day and donald morris is admitted overnight hi how are you doing the following morning frank arrives at the hospital and meets again with donald morris i told mr morris that there may be some other tests that he's going to go through to help tell whether or not he had a medical condition and what may have caused his blackout he claims he blacked out so i'll see when he can run some tests hopefully to see what caused that if indeed he did blackout in one of the tests donald is laid on a table as it is tilted up and down to timed angles to monitor his blood pressure and pulse the test is performed to detect a rare disorder that can have an effect over a person's blood pressure if donald morris has this condition this could confirm his version that he had suffered an unexpected blackout just before the crash frank waits anxiously outside the exam room when dr brown comes out with the results frank breathes a sigh of relief his intuition and determination have paid off donald morris after the till test was diagnosed with having uh neurocardiosyncopae it's also known as neurogenic syncope is an extremely rare cardiovascular problem that has no relation whatsoever to donald morris's schizophrenia with the diagnosis in hand frank can finally replay the events that led to danny carlton's tragic death on a hot summer morning donald morris is driving his car back from church while his friend valerie follows closely behind suddenly due to a medical condition donald wasn't aware of his brain sends a false message to his heart resulting in a sudden drop in his blood pressure as donald passes out his car leaves the road and heads straight for the corn stand danny carlton suffers massive internal injuries and dies an hour later in the hospital are you okay unaware of what has just happened donald slowly regains consciousness with no memory of the accident this is a very interesting case a very special case first of all we have cases where people driving their cars drive off the road run into a tree and they're killed in the crash but we never know exactly what made them run off the road and run into that tree the interesting part about this is that we were able to find out exactly what caused mr morris's problem mr morris had an undiagnosed and unknown medical condition to him as a result of frank's investigation no criminal charges were filed against donald morris and when frank advised danny carlton's family of the cause of the crash they also decided not to pursue a lawsuit so he was not prosecuted and ultimately although it was a tragic case somebody did die i think that was probably the right decision to make for mr morris and for everybody involved when you're working a crash scene things aren't always the way they appear at first blush sometimes accident investigators have to give that crash scene a second maybe a third look to get all the facts together that's what frank had to do in this case we can take that lesson to our own heart when we're driving pay attention to what's going on around you maybe you have to give something a second look drive safely [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: FD Real

Views: 21,887

Keywords: Free Documentary, Reality Shows, Reality TV Shows, Show (TV Genre), Documentaries, Factual Entertainment, Factual Television, non-fiction, Best factual series, FD Real, FD Real Show, Accident Investigators, Accident Investigation, Accidents, Traffic Accident, Traffic Collision, Road Rage, Dangerous Road, Dangerous Roads, Dangerous Driving, Blue Light Documentary, Police, Fire Brigade, Fire Department, Canadian Police

Id: veyVlvwHOIE

Length: 46min 36sec (2796 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 21 2021