A Columbus tow truck driver accused of rear-ending a vehicle while under the influence of methamphetamine and causing the death of a Brown County man has a new jury trial date after prosecutors declined to offer a plea bargain in the case.
Ruel P. Pedigo III, 49, of 1085 Jonesville Road, appeared in Bartholomew Circuit Court on Monday morning for a change-of-plea hearing with his attorney, John Razumich, of Indianapolis. Pedigo received a Dec. 11 jury trial date from Judge Kelly Benjamin and a pre-trial conference was set for 3:45 p.m. Nov. 5.
Bartholomew County Deputy Prosecutor Lindsey Kay confirmed the prosecutor’s office would not offer any plea in the case. Prosecutors did not object to continuing the trial date to Dec. 11.
Razumich said during the court hearing he is in the process of setting up depositions in the case. After the hearing, the attorney said he and Pedigo had no further comment.
Pedigo, who appeared in court clean shaven and wearing a suit and tie, is accused of operating a vehicle with a controlled substance in the blood, a Level 4 felony, the most serious among charges he faces. Pedigo has also been charged with reckless homicide, a Level 5 felony, and causing serious bodily injury when operating a motor vehicle with a controlled substance in the blood, a Level 6 felony.
The charges stem from a multi-vehicle accident at 7:40 p.m. Jan. 27 in the eastbound lanes of Jonathan Moore Pike near Johnson Boulevard, involving as many as six vehicles.
Investigators said Pedigo was driving a Ford F650 tow truck with a vehicle on the flatbed when he rear-ended a Mazda 3 car driven by Patrick N. Bowman, 35, of Brown County, who died from injuries sustained in the crash. Bowman, who was originally from Columbus, graduated from Columbus North High School in 2001.
A passenger in Bowman’s car, Sarah Fliehman, 25, also of Brown County, suffered a head injury.
A number of collisions occurred among vehicles in front of the Mazda after the tow truck hit it, accident reconstructionists said in court documents.
Pedigo told investigators he had just exited I-65 South and was heading east on Jonathan Moore Pike when an unidentified small black car changed from the left-turn lane to Pedigo’s lane. Pedigo told police he tried to brake, but slid, causing the accident, court documents state.
Pedigo told police he was going 25 to 30 mph when he hit the Mazda. However, when investigators downloaded the airbag diagnostic sensing module in the tow truck, the data showed he was traveling between 37 and 40 mph in the seconds leading up to the crash and that he did not apply the brakes until about 1 second prior to impact with the Mazda, court documents state.
A toxicology report showed Pedigo had methamphetamine and amphetamine, a metabolite of methamphetamine, in his blood when the accident occurred, court documents stated.
