BREAKING: Walorski crash eyewitness said he did NOT think SUV was trying to pass truck
Congresswoman lost her life in violent collision that sheriff's office said was caused by her staffer Zach Potts, who was trying to pass, but witness says it looked like he'd lost control of car
The only witness who had a clear view of what happened in the moments leading up to the crash that killed U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski and three others last August did not think that the driver, who was Walorski’s district director, was trying to pass the large truck in front of him as the Sheriff’s Office had concluded following its investigation.
The full report of the investigation of the crash — which was obtained exclusively by Crossroads Report — shows that when interviewed after the crash, the eyewitness, Keith Philips, said it looked like the driver [Zachery Potts] was trying to get control of the Toyota Rav4.
Philips described the movements of the Rav4 as “jerky” just before the crash, and said it almost hit the large truck in front of it before crossing the double yellow line and hitting the oncoming Buick driven by Edith Schmucker.
Four people tragically lost their lives in the crash: Walorski, Potts, Schmucker, and Walorski’s communications director Emma Thomson, who was riding in the back seat of the Rav4.
Philips specifically told a detective that he “does not believe it was a passing attempt” and said he thinks “something must have either happened to the driver or the car.”
Just after noon on Aug. 3, Philips was in his pickup truck driving north on State Road 19 in northern Indiana from the town of Nappanee.
In front of him was a small SUV — a Toyota Rav4 that was being driven by Zachery Potts, the district director for U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski who was also the GOP county chairman in St. Joseph County, the next county over to the west.
Philips said he’d been directly behind the Rav4 starting in Nappanee (about five miles back), until just south of the roundabout where State Road 19 meets State Road 119, where the terrible crash happened.
In an interview the day after the crash, Philips told a patrol officer that he did not notice anything out of the ordinary in the way the Toyota Rav4 was being driven until just prior to the crash, when the Rav4 was behind a flatbed truck, which he described as the kind that lumber companies use.
“Keith Philips advised he observed the silver Rav4 slow down to around 40 mph for no apparent reason,” the officer’s report reads. “Keith Philips advised the vehicle then quickly accelerated and crossed the center line a few times as if the driver was losing control of the vehicle.”
It continues:
“Keith Philips advised the silver Rav4 then drove again left of center, going completely in the southbound lane of travel and hit the southbound maroon Buick head on.”
In the interview with the officer that is recorded above, Philips said that he couldn’t tell if the driver of the Rav4 was trying to pass the truck or if he drove into the southbound lane to avoid rear-ending the truck.
But in a second interview with police, this time with a sergeant from the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office, he again described the Toyota Rav4 slowing down, but with no brake lights, and then taking off all of a sudden and rapidly accelerating and saying it “was jerky within its lane.”
But this time, he told the sergeant he “did not believe it was a deliberate passing attempt.”
He described the Rav4 making a “hard swerve to the left” and said when it hit the maroon car [the Buick LeSabre driven by Edith Schmucker], the two vehicles “spun in the air.”
On Aug. 11, Philips was interviewed by law enforcement a third time, this time by Detective Kevin Miller of the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office. In this in-depth interview, Philips said that the Toyota Rav4, after slowing way down and then rapidly accelerating and making “jerky” movements within its lane “nearly collided with the rear end of the flatbed truck,” saying, “the driver [Potts] moved hard to the left to avoid colliding with the truck.”
When asked what he meant by “jerky” movements, the detective said Philips replied that the movements “were similar to what someone would do when they are dodging a pothole.”
Philips told the detective that he didn’t hear any sound of squealing ties and that the first sound he heard was the loud sound of the crash.
“He said that he feels something must have either happened to the driver or the car, in his opinion,” the detective wrote.
The detective noted that he went back over with Philips the moments leading up to the crash.
He said again that Philips said he felt the driver of the Toyota Rav4 “went left of center to avoid hitting the truck.”
“He feels that the driver was trying to get control of the car,” the detective recorded.
Philips also said that once the Toyota Rav4 was completely in the southbound lane it moved back toward the truck, saying the movement was “not normal.”
In the press release sent to the media on Sept. 16, following its investigation, the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office had said:
“All of the evidence and information gathered is consistent with someone attempting to pass another vehicle on a two-lane roadway.”
It summarized Philips’ account of the slowing down and then rapid acceleration of the Toyota Rav4 but did not include the information that Philips said he did not believe it was a deliberate attempt to pass or that he believed something had happened to either the driver or the vehicle.
The press release had noted, as does the full, 63-page report of the investigation, that the airbag control module [black box recorder] showed the Toyota Rav4 was going 82 miles per hour approximately five seconds before the crash and had slowed to 77 miles per hour just before the crash.
It also showed that the vehicle was at “idle speed” — in other words, was coasting at the time of the crash.
The black box recorder for the Buick showed it was going 42 miles per hour a few seconds before the crash, and accelerated to 48 miles per hour just before the crash as it was coming out of the roundabout to head south on State Road 19.
The combined speed of the two vehicles as they collided head-on was 125 miles per hour, a lieutenant with the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office wrote in his report.
The summary of the 63-page report notes that there were no tire marks or brake marks found on the road in the area leading up to the collision.
After several failed attempts, Crossroads Report was finally able to reach Keith Philips by phone this evening.
He said he didn’t have any more to say about the crash at this time.
“The statements I gave to the police are where I’m at, so thank you for calling,” he said.
This is very interesting.
I was traveling that intersection a couple of months ago, in the same direction as Rep Walorski’a vehicle, and it would not have made any sense whatsoever for someone to try to pass as he was approaching the roundabout. There simply isn’t sufficient space for someone to get around another vehicle when that near to the roundabout.
It is unfortunate that an autopsy evaluating for unexplained medical event such as a sudden heart attack or stroke caused by sudden clot was likely not performed.
Eighty-two MPH seems a little fast. I certainly wouldn't risk doing that on 31. We will never know if the young, ostensibly healthy, driver suffered a sudden medical event, correct? We are left to speculate.