Schrock deaths draw charges
Prosecutors charged a Deer Park man Monday with five counts of vehicular homicide and one count of vehicular assault in a case that comes down to five “conscious acts” that investigators say put him on a collision course with tragedy.
Spokane County prosecutors relied on a rarely used process called a special inquiry in deciding Monday to charge Clifford L. Helm, 56, in connection with the Nov. 1, 2005, crash that devastated a Chewelah family. Jeffrey Schrock was severely injured, and his five children were killed. A sixth has since been born.
Spokane County Prosecutor Steve Tucker, who pointed out Monday that Helm was using his cell phone just before or during the crash, said Helm faces seven to 12 years in prison if he is convicted on all six counts. Helm could not be reached for comment Monday.
Because Helm refused to talk to investigators, Tucker said he authorized the special inquiry to investigate the crash. In such investigations, which remain secret, investigators call witnesses to testify before a judge who has the authority to seek documents or testimony that would otherwise be difficult to obtain, Tucker said.
Two toxicology tests found no alcohol or prescription drugs that would have caused Helm to become drowsy. Inspections of the mangled remains of Helm’s truck found “no mechanical cause for the actions of Helm’s vehicle,” Washington State Patrol detective Ryan Spangler wrote in court records.
“You know he is on the wrong side of the road. I think you have to try everything you can to find out why,” Tucker said. “Did he black out? Was he trying to kill himself? We were just looking for the truth.”
Helm’s attorney, Carl Oreskovich, said he and his client, who did not testify at the special inquiry, were “sorely disappointed” with Tucker’s decision.
“In this case, there is no evidence, in my opinion, that supports a charge,” Oreskovich said. “The only correct conclusion, in my opinion, would have been to decline prosecution.”
Helm was driving a 1999 Ford F-250 pickup north on U.S. Highway 395 when it twice veered into the median just north of Hatch Road. Helm’s truck also twice crossed into oncoming lanes of traffic and crashed head-on into the southbound 1986 Ford pickup driven by 39-year-old Jeffrey Schrock.
Killed were 12-year-old Carmen, 10-year-old Jana, 8-year-old Carinna, 5-year-old Jerry and 2-year-old Craig.
Six weeks after the crash, Jeffrey Schrock’s wife, Carolyn Schrock – who was not in the vehicle at the time of the crash – gave birth to a baby girl, Jolynn Marie Schrock.
The Schrocks are now in Central America completing a yearlong mission assignment from their Pine Grove Mennonite Church. Family spokesman Daniel Hertzler read a prepared statement.
“Because of their honor and respect for the officers of the law, the Schrock family does not stand in opposition to them performing their God-given responsibilities,” Hertzler said. “However, because of their love, forgiveness and friendship with the Helm family, they have no desire to see Cliff Helm prosecuted for the accident of Nov. 1, 2005.”
Tucker said he respects the family’s sentiments but that he must consider other drivers’ safety.
“In our case, we’ve got to apply the facts to the law and decide whether a crime has been committed that we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt,” Tucker said. “Their views will become heard at the sentencing level. Then it will be up to the judge” to decide leniency.
Tucker said the special inquiry was largely to blame for the nearly yearlong delay in bringing charges. During the inquiry, deputy prosecutors John Grasso and Clint Francis obtained testimony from neighbors, friends, witnesses, hospital employees or anybody who could explain what happened that night, Tucker said.
“It’s done in cases like this where someone invokes their right to remain silent,” Tucker said of Helm. “We have to look for some kind of reason or motive that caused an accident like this where five people are dead.”
According to court records, witnesses saw the northbound Helm steer his truck into the median and enter the southbound lanes. “It appeared as if the vehicle was under control and actually accelerated back up to highway speed,” according to the report, which quotes people who saw the crash.
According to crash-scene measurements, Helm drove 1,506 feet from where he first entered the median to where he crashed into the Schrock truck. Investigators estimated in the report that it would take between 14 to 20 seconds, depending on speed, to travel that distance.
Witness Jean Johnson told investigators that she was driving southbound on U.S. 395 when she saw the headlights of a vehicle coming toward her. She responded by honking her horn.
“Johnson stated she observed the Helm vehicle immediately travel into the median after she sounded her horn,” Spangler wrote.
Spangler, the WSP detective, said Helm made his first “conscious act” when he steered into the median. The second act was when he drove into the southbound lanes and his third conscious act was to accelerate.
When Helm responded to Johnson’s horn, he again consciously steered back into the median, Spangler wrote.
The fifth conscious act occurred when Helm “re-entered the southbound lane traveling north, in a straight line, prior to striking the Schrock vehicle,” Spangler wrote. “No witness statements or evidence was located that indicated that Helm attempted to slow, pull to the shoulder, stop or return to the northbound lanes.”
Helm was charged with driving “in a reckless manner, and with disregard for the safety of others.” Tucker explained that to convict Helm of “reckless” driving, prosecutors must show that he committed an overt act.
“Reckless is more of a willful and wanton” act, he said. “I’m going to drive over here and do it on purpose.”
Driving with “disregard for safety” is a lower standard to prove, such as when someone takes her or his eyes off the road to change a CD and causes a crash, Tucker said.
He also pointed out what he called “a very interesting timeline” of cellular phone calls made just before the crash. Telephone records showed that Clifford Helm called his wife, Sandy, at 4:19 p.m.
Sandy Helm, who was driving behind her husband at the time, returned that phone call at 4:20 p.m. Then at 4:22 p.m. Sandy Helm called 911 to report the crash, according to court records.
But Oreskovich said answering a cell phone is not a crime.
“It’s an accident that can happen to anyone,” he said. “We’ve always maintained that this was a very tragic accident. But it was not an accident that resulted from any criminal acts by Mr. Helm.”