Patrol waiting for tests on emergency lights in Janklow crash

| Wednesday, August 27, 2003

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SIOUX FALLS (AP) — South Dakota Highway Patrol is waiting for results of tests that may show whether emergency lights on a car driven by Rep. Bill Janklow were being used at the time of a crash that killed a Minnesota man.

Witness statements have not indicated the emergency lights were on, according to Capt. Jeffrey Talbot of the South Dakota Highway Patrol. But those tests may provide more information, he said.

Charges have not been filed in the Aug. 16 accident that killed Randy Scott of Hardwick, Minn. The accident report showed that Janklow ran a stop sign and was traveling between 70 mph and 75 mph on a 55 mph road.

While he was governor, Janklow asked for emergency lights to be installed in several vehicles he drove, including the one involved in the crash near Trent, a highway patrol official said Monday.

Some of those vehicles were kept at airports across South Dakota so he could have easy access to them, Tom Dravland, director of the state Department of Public Safety, said.

The requests were made verbally and were not in writing, Dravland said.

South Dakota law allows emergency lights in vehicles such as ambulances and those used by fire, police, municipal departments and public- service corporations.

Dravland and Col. Dan Mosteller, the current director of the Highway Patrol, said they interpret the law to include the governor.

Mosteller said the emergency lights should be used to respond to emergency situations.

"I know he responded to many emergency situations, whether it be the Spencer tornado or fires in the Black Hills," Mosteller said.

Investigators should be able to determine whether the lights were on at the time of the collision by examining the bulbs, Casey Perry, chairman of the National Troopers' Association, said.

"An expert can make that determination," he said.

Mosteller said he did not know how long it would take to get the results back. "All those reports will go to the state's attorney," he said.

Dravland said he made a request in May to locate Janklow's vehicles and remove the emergency lights.

"Janklow was not governor anymore, and I didn't feel that he should have the state- owned lights in his vehicle," Dravland, who was appointed by Janklow to head the Highway Patrol, said.

The lights were not taken out of the vehicles immediately when Janklow vacated his role as governor, Dravland said.

"For a bit of time, it was overlooked, to be just flat honest," he said.

Perry said "it is definitely uncommon" for an elected official to have emergency lights in his car.

"I have not heard of any," he said. "In most states, if the governor needs to go to an emergency, the Highway Patrol takes him."

The car Janklow was driving when it collided with Scott's motorcycle was owned by Marc Tobias, a friend of Janklow's.

Tobias said last Thursday that he bought the car in 1999 from a dealership. He said he was not sure when and why emergency lights were installed in the Cadillac.

"I doubt they would have been my idea," he said.

The car was equipped with emergency lights because "Janklow responded to emergencies," he said.

When asked why a car Tobias owned was equipped with items specifically for Janklow's use, Tobias said the former governor drove the car if he was in the eastern part of the state.

"If he needed it, it would be equipped with gear," Tobias said.

When the lights were installed, state officials did not know the car was owned by Tobias, Dravland said.

"I don't think it would have made any difference," he said. "If the governor made the request, we would have done it."

To his knowledge, no other elected politician in the state has a vehicle equipped with emergency lights, Mosteller said. After he took office, Gov. Mike Rounds declined to have lights installed, Mosteller said.

Mark Johnston, Rounds' press secretary, said the governor didn't need the lights because he wasn't going to be the first responder in an emergency.

"He's always very concerned and has, on many occasions, offered whatever resources it takes to handle whatever the situation is," Johnston said. "He relies heavily on the local professionals to do their job."

The only members of Congress allowed to use emergency lights on their vehicles in Washington, D.C., are those with leadership positions, such as the Speaker of the House, a Capitol Police officer said.

In those cases, they are given a vehicle with police equipment, Contricia Ford, Capitol Police officer, said.

South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long said he does not know whether members of Congress have any rights that are different from other citizens in their home states.