Trooper indicted in freeway wreck that killed 2 sisters
BELLEVILLE _ An Illinois State Police trooper was indicted on reckless homicide charges Friday after grand jurors found his freeway speeds said to top 120 mph were excessive when his patrol cruiser swerved into an oncoming car, killing two teenage sisters.
State Police, who investigated the Nov. 23 wreck, recommended in January that prosecutors charge Trooper Matt Mitchell with reckless homicide. But Bob Haida, St. Clair County's state's attorney, deferred to the grand jury, which returned one reckless homicide count for each of the sisters.
The panel also charged Mitchell with two aggravated reckless driving counts related to the injuries of two survivors in the crash on Interstate 64 just east of St. Louis.
If convicted, he could be sentenced up to five years in prison for the homicide charges. The reckless driving charges carry a sentence of up to three years.
Mitchell, who was hospitalized for about a month after the wreck, was not arrested as of Friday but has been ordered to appear in court next Thursday on the charges. No bond was set.
Mitchell has an unlisted home telephone number in Carlyle and could not be reached for comment Friday. St. Clair County court records did not list an attorney for him, a circuit court clerk said.
A coroner's jury on Jan. 23 ruled the deaths of Collinsville sisters Jessica Uhl, 18, and Kelli Uhl, 13, reckless homicides, finding that Mitchell was driving 126 mph en route to another accident when he lost control of his patrol car the day after Thanksgiving. He swerved across a median at 102 mph and slammed into the sisters' oncoming car.
The sisters, who were returning from a holiday photo shoot, died at the scene.
State investigators have interviewed Mitchell, whose in-car video taping system was not in use at the time of the crash.
The agency's protocol calls for the video system to be used during "enforcement action" including a traffic stop or an arrest. Troopers are allowed to turn off the system while driving to a scene, in many cases to save the tape for use when it's needed most.
The indictment accuses Mitchell of driving the 2006 Chevrolet Impala "at a speed which was greater than was reasonable and proper with regard to the service call he was responding to, other activities he was engaged in while driving, existing traffic and road conditions and the safety of persons properly on the roadway."
Haida declined to discuss the "other activities" that may have distracted Mitchell, who the prosecutor said was not intoxicated.
The reckless driving counts allege Mitchell showed "a willful and wanton disregard for the safety of persons."
Since the wreck, Mitchell had been on paid, active status with the state police. But he soon will be barred from state police sites and can't represent himself as a trooper, but he still will be paid, State Police Lt. Scott Compton said.
"Our comment today is just that any time any of our officers face criminal charges is a great concern to us," Compton said, adding that "we have great faith in our investigation of this tragic event."
Haida called the reckless homicide charges the most-serious possible under the case's facts.
Two witnesses testified before the grand jury, but Mitchell was not one of them, Haida said without identifying who took the stand.
Uhl family attorney Thomas Keefe called the charges "gratifying," and he credited Haida with swiftly shepherding the matter.
"Nothing in the criminal or civil case is going to bring the kids back," Keefe said. "But anything that deters this from happening again is a good thing."