Seven men and five women were selected to serve on the Bartholomew Circuit Court jury hearing the case of Ruel Pedigo III, accused in the death of a Brown County man in a chain-reaction traffic accident last year.
The 50-year-old Garden City resident is accused of being under the influence of methamphetamine the night of Jan. 27, 2018, when his tow truck rear-ended a car driven by Patrick N. Bowman, 35, of Brown County, who died from injuries suffered in the crash.
“One person’s choices ended the life of another man, and had catastrophic consequences on a woman,” Bartholomew County Deputy Prosecutor Lindsey Kay told the jury during her opening statement Tuesday afternoon.
The woman that Kay was referring to was Bowman’s fiancee, Sarah Fliehman, who suffered serious injuries in the crash on Jonathan Moore Pike, in front of the street separating the Circle K convenience store and Starbucks.
Bowman, who was originally from Columbus, graduated from Columbus North High School in 2001.
Pedigo is formally charged in Bartholomew Circuit Court with operating a vehicle with a controlled substance in the blood, a Level 4 felony; 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, court records state.
Pedigo was on his way home while still hauling a vehicle on a F650 flatbed tow truck when the incident occurred, according to prosecutors. Kay told the jury that witnesses saw Pedigo’s tow truck straddling two lanes of the road just before the crash.
While Pedigo initially told police he was only going 25 to 30 miles per hour, the deputy prosecutor said an engine control module on the tow truck showed he was actually traveling 40 miles per hour. The module also indicated Pedigo hit his brakes only one second before his truck plowed into the back of Bowman’s car Mazda 3 the intersection.
When emergency units arrived, the front wheels of Bowman’s truck were in the back seat of Bowman’s car, according to the prosecutors. But even with several people scrambling about Pedigo to offer assistance, Pedigo didn’t get out of his tow truck until a Columbus police officer instructed him to do so, Kay said.
While sobriety tests were administered to the drivers of the six other cars involved in the resulting pileup, none of the drivers showed signs of being intoxicated, according to Kay.
Two laboratories performed tests on blood collected from Pedigo at Columbus Regional Hospital showing methamphetamine was in Pedigo’s system, Kay said.
A toxicology report showed Pedigo had methamphetamine and amphetamine, a metabolite of methamphetamine, in his blood when the accident occurred, court documents state. Pedigo consented to the blood test, according to court records.
Defense attorney John Razumich provided a different story to the jury. In his opening statement, he emphasized his client had not been drinking, and was driving the speed limit. The only reason Pedigo smashed into the back end of Bowman’s car was that his client became distracted by another car to his left, the attorney said.
Razumich, whose law practice is in Indianapolis, insisted his client was not impaired in any way when the fatal accident occurred. Although he did not specifically mention methamphetamine, Razumich had asked many potential jurors earlier in the day if they believed a drug could be responsible for an accident if it’s taken several days or weeks before an accident occurs.
The only reason that Pedigo remained in the tow truck after the accident was because he was in a state of shock, Razumich said.
A total of 36 witnesses are expected to be called during the trial, presiding Judge Kelly Benjamin said.
Although court officials say they are hoping to conclude the trial on Thursday, Razumich told the jurors it could continue into Friday.
