Janklow linked to near-miss

| Wednesday, September 03, 2003

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Woman claims she was almost hit by Janklow at intersection where Aug. 16 accident occurred.

TRENT (AP) — U.S. Rep. Bill Janklow had a close call with another vehicle late last year at the same Moody County intersection where he was involved in a fatal accident two weeks ago.

Jennifer Walters told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Janklow nearly collided with her after he ran a stop sign on Dec. 29.

Walters and her family were headed to a relative's house for a holiday dinner when they heard the screech of tires behind them at the rural intersection. When she turned, she said she saw a white Cadillac trying to stop after running a stop sign.

"A split-second difference and the Cadillac would have hit us," Walters, 30, of Trent, said. "That's how fast the car came through."

Walters, who was riding in a pickup truck with her husband and two sons, said she called Moody County authorities to report the driver and describe the make and color of the car. Within the hour, she said, a dispatcher called her back to say an officer had stopped the car and identified its driver as Janklow, who was then South Dakota's governor and had been elected to the U.S. House.

It was at that same intersection that Janklow was involved in an Aug. 16 crash that killed motorcyclist Randy Scott of Hardwick, Minn. In that crash, Janklow was speeding and had run a stop sign before colliding with Scott, authorities said.

Janklow was charged Friday with second-degree manslaughter, which carries a maximum 10-year prison term and a $10,000 fine if convicted. He is also charged with failure to stop, speeding and reckless driving.

Authorities have talked with Walters but have declined to discuss her story or provide access to police records that could verify her account. Bill Ellingson, Moody County state's attorney, also would not say whether Walters' account played a role in building the felony charge against Janklow.

Ellingson told the Star Tribune that he considers any records on the alleged incident or subsequent stop of Janklow "to be confidential criminal- justice information" as defined by state law.

But another South Dakota prosecutor said that a previous, similar incident at the intersection could help Ellingson establish that Janklow showed a degree of recklessness sufficient to support a second-degree manslaughter charge.

"In any type of case ... past history is a factor," Mark McNeary, the Brown County state's attorney in Aberdeen, said.

In charging Janklow, Ellingson said the mere fact that someone died in the Aug. 16 accident was not enough to establish a second-degree manslaughter charge. However, he said state courts have concluded that when "additional factors" are involved, a jury could find someone guilty if the actions appear to be "a conscious and unjustifiable disregard of a substantial risk." Ellingson made no reference to what those additional factors might be.

McNeary, however, said "that statement alone would indicate that there is something more than just trafficviolations that he's basing this charge on. On this point, one would have to assume it's based on prior history."

Janklow's son, Russ, who has served as a family spokesman since the accident, said he did not know anything about the December incident.

There is no record that Janklow was ever ticketed in connection with Walters' call to police in December. Walters said she was told she could file a complaint, but she did not.

"I was just a little concerned about who he was and who I am and carrying things any farther," she said. "I just let it drop and thank my stars that I'm alive."

Walters, an administrative assistant who works in Sioux Falls, said she requested access to records confirming her call. She said county authorities told her she would need a subpoena to get them.

Walters said that after looking at news photographs of the car Janklow was driving on Aug. 16, "It looks like the exact same car" that ran the stop sign in December.

Walters said the dispatcher who called her back that day never told her whether the Cadillac was speeding when the driver was stopped. But Walters said that when she asked the dispatcher why the driver ran the stop sign, the dispatcher "chuckled under her breath and said, ‘It was Governor Janklow.'"

Over the years, Janklow has developed a reputation for speeding and joked about it in one State of the State address and made reference to it in another.

His driving record shows numerous citations from the early 1990s, when he was ticketed 12 times for speeding and paid more than $1,000 in fines. In several cases, he was stopped for driving 15 to 20 mph faster than the posted speed limits and once was caught going 90 mph in a 65-mph zone. However, the records also show he has not received a ticket for speeding since October 1994, just before he was elected to his third term as governor.

Janklow was scheduled to appear in Moody County Court in Flandreau on Tuesday.