Ex-deputy accused in crash similar to 2001 collision

James Lee Crabtree, who was a sheriff’s deputy in the 1980s, caused a head-on crash Tuesday that that was “eerily similar” to one five years ago in which he nearly killed a deputy, a sheriff’s spokesman said.

As before, Crabtree was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs, according to Sgt. Dave Reagan. No one, however, was injured this time.

Reagan said Crabtree, 45, of 9805 N. Ridgecrest Drive, was northbound on Market Street south of Lincoln Road when his 1999 Chevrolet Monte Carlo crossed a left-turn lane and the center line and collided with a southbound minivan. There was no passenger in either vehicle.

Investigators said it appeared the minivan driver, 64-year-old Linda Flanigan, of Mead, saw Crabtree’s car and had nearly stopped her vehicle when the collision occurred. Crabtree, on the other hand, kept going for 178 feet after the collision with no evidence of braking, Reagan said.

Crabtree is still on probation from his 2003 convictions for vehicular assault, two counts of drug possession and four counts of selling drugs.

His probation officer placed a no-bail hold on Crabtree, preventing him from getting out of jail even if he could raise the $1,000 bail on the two counts for which he was booked: intoxicated driving and second-degree driving with a suspended license.

Sheriff’s Lt. Earl Howerton was critically injured in December 2001 when, as a sergeant, he was driving his Ford Crown Victoria patrol car east on Bigelow Gulch Road, and Crabtree plowed into him with a Nissan Maxima. Howerton braked hard and pulled off the road when Crabtree crossed the center line, but Crabtree still hit Howerton’s car head-on.

Crabtree’s 74-mph speed was recorded when his speedometer needle was smashed against the plastic speedometer cover. Howerton needed three surgeries to repair his dislocated hip, broken knee and crushed feet.

Howerton also needed three years of painful rehabilitation. He was off work for three months and was on light duty for 21 months, but he eventually was restored to regular duty despite a doctor’s prediction that he would never return to work.

In August 2003, Superior Court Judge Greg Sypolt sentenced Crabtree to five years in prison despite pleas for leniency from Spokane’s police chief at the time, Roger Bragdon, and former Prosecutor Don Brockett.

Crabtree, who was a deputy from 1982 to 1987, blamed his drug use on undercover narcotics work. The Gonzaga Prep graduate also presented testimony at sentencing in which he claimed to have experimented with drugs after being sexually abused by a priest when he was a seventh- or eighth-grader.