Clues and probability in the death of Odell McDuffie

Final star between arrows denote impact point.

UPDATE: Texas Governor, Rick Perry's Office has contacted several local Liberty County Officials and businesses with orders to secure all evidence related to Odell's car and those cars used to repair Odell's patrol car.

It was a sad day when several of us from Liberty Dispatch went out to the accident scene where Liberty County Sheriff's Deputy, Odell McDuffie died.

After a survey of the scene and interviews with witnesses,  it is my best determination the following happened.

1. Odell rounded the farm road curve and his car throttled wide open.
2. According to witnesses, they claim the vehicle engine revved wide open.
3. The car crossed the opposing lane and went off the road and hit a tree.
4. The car spun around after impacting the front right drivers side of the vehicle.
5. Witnesses who appeared almost immediately on the scene state- the air bag had deployed and Odell was pinned under the dash with his hand still grasping the steering wheel but unresponsive.
6. A fire in the engine compartment started almost immediately upon impact.
7. It is believed Odell's neck was probably broken from the impact while he was under the dash.

Summation:  I believe Odell was traversing a corner when suddenly the car accelerated on its own- wide open.  Thinking the accelerator was stuck, Odell then leaned down under the dash to try to unfreeze the accelerator.  When Odell leaned to the right and under the dash, his hand over corrected and caused him to go off the road.  Odell was probably moving at 60+ miles per hour and the 50-75 yards he covered at the aforementioned speed, was unrecoverable.

I believe the proximate cause of Odell's ultimate death was due to a faulty material mechanical defect in the Ford Crown Victoria police vehicle he was operating.

The car and its computer must be preserved for further investigation.

Odell, you will be missed...

Ray Akins, Liberty Dispatch Investigator/Contributor

Ford Crown Victoria and Sudden Acceleration Defect

In a case of sudden acceleration by a Ford Crown Victoria, the firm recently took depositions of Ford's Rule 30(b)(6) representatives to discover how, or even if, Ford makes proper use of customer and dealership complaints.

From the testimony, any reasonable person would conclude, Ford has not conducted any meaningful investigations into complaints of sudden unintended acceleration despite thousands of customer complaints and dealer inquiries. The evidence at an eventual trial will show that Ford has taken no reasonable steps to warn the public of the possible danger of unintended acceleration events in their vehicles.

Despite thousands of complaints, Ford’s formal “investigation” involved nothing more than attaching a recording device to the vehicles and/or driving the vehicles; if the event did not replicate, Ford dismissed the complaint as being caused solely by driver error (i.e., stepping simultaneously on the brake and accelerator).

Ford calls the driver error “fat foot” no matter what your shoe size,  thus demonstrating a cavalier disregard for the legitimate complaints from thousands of worried customers and for the personal safety of consumers and other motorists. Despite a rash of ongoing complaints from customers after the Electronic Throttle Control System was introduced, Ford’s only formal investigation into this safety concern was concluded in the fall of 2005.

The firm has learned through discovery that Ford was notified of at least 12 separate complaints from police and fire departments involving the 2005 Crown Victoria; Ford dismissed each and every one as being caused by “fat feet”!

One such complaints was brought by a police officer whose cruiser took off after he left the gas pump and careened across the parking lot striking a second cruiser and injuring the female officer seated in that second vehicle. After striking the second vehicle, the runaway Ford continued to accelerate, spinning its rear wheels and fish-tailing in place as it pushed the second vehicle into a curb. The spinning wheels literally tore the top layer of asphalt off the parking lot.  Ford attributed the incident to fat feet. The police officer will be a witness at trial and will testify that he was pressing on the brake pedal with both feet as hard as he could!