Driver told the Schrocks he ‘blacked out’

The Deer Park man who killed five children when his vehicle crashed head on into a pickup truck last year may suffer from a medical condition that causes him to abruptly fall asleep, new documents released Friday show.

Although the driver, 56-year-old Clifford Lee Helm, has refused to talk with investigators, he reportedly told the children’s grieving parents that he didn’t remember anything from the fatal Nov. 1, 2005, collision on U.S. Highway 395 north of Spokane. Helm, who is facing vehicular homicide charges, also suggested he might suffer from a condition such as narcolepsy.

“All I can figure is I blacked out,” Helm was quoted as telling Jeffrey and Carolyn Schrock of the Chewelah area. “I’m scared of myself. I’m so sorry I killed your children.”

The couple relayed the conversation to Washington State Patrol troopers investigating the crash, in which Helm’s pickup truck crossed the median and continued into lanes of oncoming traffic. The comments are among 800 pages of documents released Friday by the Spokane County prosecutor’s office.

Helm pleaded innocent Monday to all five counts of vehicular homicide and one count of vehicular assault.

According to court records, accident investigators found Helm’s cell phone open inside his vehicle, suggesting that he may have been talking on the phone at the time of the crash.

Helm’s attorney, Carl Oreskovich, said he did not want to comment about the prosecutor’s cell phone theory but indicated that his client may suffer from a disorder that causes him to fall asleep.

“I think those records show that Mr. Helm had a pre-existing medical condition that may very well have accounted for what occurred with the Schrock accident,” Oreskovich said.

On Nov. 1, 2005, Helm was driving a 1999 Ford F-250 pickup north on U.S. 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 Jerryl and 2-year-old Craig.

Six weeks after the crash, Jeffrey Schrock’s wife, Carolyn Schrock – who was not in the vehicle – gave birth to a baby girl, Jolynn Marie Schrock.

The Schrocks are in Central America completing a yearlong mission assignment from their Pine Grove Mennonite Church.

Investigators interviewed several witnesses who said they saw Schrock twice steer into the U.S. 395 median and then into oncoming traffic before smashing into the Schrock truck.

Detective Ryan Spangler wrote in his investigation that he interviewed Jeffrey and Carolyn Schrock on Dec. 28, 2005, after they had met with Helm.

“They said Helm had told them he did not want to drive until he found out what caused the collision, and he would probably have to hire a Mexican to drive him around,” Spangler wrote. “The Schrocks said Helm told them he had lost consciousness for approximately 40 seconds about two weeks after the collision and went back to the hospital for tests.

“Jeff said Clifford told him that all of the tests had come back negative,” Spangler wrote in his report.

On Jan. 30, Spangler interviewed one of Helm’s former employees. The woman, who was not named in the report, said she worked for Helm at Alderwood Landscaping in north Spokane between 1985 and 1990.

The former employee “stated Helm had fallen asleep without warning at his desk on (six) different occasions during her employment,” Spangler wrote. The employee “stated she was 99.9 percent sure Helm suffered from narcolepsy.”

However, state patrol investigators said they found no evidence that alcohol, illegal drugs, prescription medicines, medical conditions or mechanical failure contributed to the collision.

According to crash-scene measurements, Helm drove 1,506 feet from where he first entered the median to the point of impact with the Schrock truck. Investigators estimated in the report that it would take between 14 to 20 seconds, depending on speed, to travel that distance.

Prosecutor Steve Tucker could not be reached late Friday.

In a previous interview, Tucker drew attention to what he called “a very interesting timeline” of cell 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.