A defense attorney for a Columbus tow truck driver accused of rear-ending a vehicle, causing the death of a Brown County man, is asking that his client’s blood test results not be allowed into evidence.
Indianapolis attorney John Razumich argued Tuesday that even though Ruel P. Pedigo III, 49, of 1085 Jonesville Road, consented to the blood draw following the Jan. 27 fatal accident, there was no probable cause for Columbus police officers to offer or require it.
Pedigo is accused in Bartholomew Circuit Court 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.
A toxicology report showed Pedigo had methamphetamine and amphetamine, a metabolite of methamphetamine, in his blood when the accident occurred, court documents stated.
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.
An adult passenger in Bowman’s car, Sarah Fliehman, 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.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
