Jury deliberating in vehicular homicide trial for police officer

Jurors began deliberations this afternoon in the trial of a Wichita police officer involved in a deadly crash.

Garrett Shaddix, then 25, was responding to a call in his patrol car after 9 p.m. on Dec. 13, 2009, when he crashed into a car turning in front of him. Christopher Perkins, 30, died of his injuries in the crash.

Lawyers agreed speed could be a deciding factor. Shaddix told fellow officers he was driving 60 mph before the crash. An accident investigator with the Kansas Highway Patrol determined Shaddix may have been going as fast as 73 mph.

Shaddix is charged with misdemeanor vehicular homicide. As his trial began Tuesday, Shaddix's lawyer said the officer was not driving differently than most patrol officers would have under similar circumstances.

"We won't dispute most of the facts in this case," Steve Ariagno said. "What we will dispute is that it's not the crime of vehicular homicide."

Prosecutor Tom Weilert told jurors Tuesday that Shaddix did not take proper precautions.

"We are here because of his failure to exercise due care to protect the public," Weilert said.

Vehicular homicide is an unintentional traffic death caused by taking unreasonable risks and driving which "constituted a material deviation from the standard of care which a reasonable person would observe under the same circumstances."

Shaddix and fellow officer Michael Rago were driving on south Hydraulic while responding to a report of a shooting on MacArthur.

The officers were driving with their "cruising lights" on -- single red and blue lights on the end of the bar sitting atop their cars. They do not flash like other emergency lights on the patrol cars.

Perkins was trying to turn left onto El Monte, two blocks north of I-35. Perkins saw Rago's car, but turned in front of Shaddix's car.

Rago had activated his flashing lights just before the crash. Shaddix told other officers he was reaching to turn on the flashing lights just before the crash, Ariagno said.

Syrios on Tuesday allowed jurors to see how the lights work on the car at the Rounds & Porter police property building across the street from the courthouse.

"It is a bit unusual for a jury to leave the confines of the courtroom," Syrios told the four men and two women on the panel. But Syrios granted a request from both sides to show jurors the lights because they could not be brought into the courtroom.

Both the prosecution and defense contend it will help their cases.

"We want to show the jury what Mr. Perkins would have seen that caused him to turn in front of Mr. Shaddix," prosecutor Aaron Breitenbach said.

Said Ariagno: "We want to show the visibility of the cruising lights and how they set it apart as a patrol car."

Shaddix is still employed by the Wichita Police Department.

A jury of six is hearing the case, because vehicular homicide is a misdemeanor in Kansas. Juries of 12 hear more serious felony charges.

This story was originally published April 5, 2011 at 3:16 PM with the headline "Jury deliberating in vehicular homicide trial for police officer."