LITTLE ROCK — A hearing to determine whether to reinstate a fired Arkansas State Police trooper facing manslaughter charges in a fatal crash has been delayed, his attorney said Friday.
Andrew Rhew, 31, of Manila, was charged by the Lonoke County prosecuting attorney’s office in September with manslaughter in the Nov. 3, 2009, accident that killed Vickie Lynn Freemyer, 52, of Blytheville.
He pleaded innocent.
Rhew was fired in December for failing to follow state police policy and state law with regard to “operating his patrol car,” state police spokesman Bill Sadler said at the time.
The Arkansas State Police Commission was to consider an appeal of his firing Friday. The employment hearing will now be held April 18, Sadler said.
Ken Stoll, an attorney representing the Arkansas State Police, asked to delay the hearing because Rhew has not yet had a trial for his criminal charges.
“The outcome of the criminal charge could have a direct bearing upon the issue pending before the commission,” Stoll said in a request for continuance.
Attorney Bill Bristow of Jonesboro, representing Rhew in his criminal case, said a pretrial hearing is March 7. A trial will likely take place in May, he said.
Felony charges filed by Lonoke County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Bart Dickinson in September allege that Rhew, “did unlawfully and feloniously ... intentionally or knowingly without legal justification, recklessly cause the death of another person.”
The 2009 accident happened in Manila in northeast Arkansas about 9:30 a.m. when Freemyer, who was traveling on Fleeman Street, pulled her car in the path of Rhew’s patrol car, which was traveling south on Arkansas 77.
Freemyer was pronounced dead at the scene by the Mississippi County coroner, according to a preliminary Arkansas State Police fatal crash report. Rhew was sent to a Jonesboro hospital and released the same day after being treated for minor injuries.
Arkansas, Pages 14 on 02/19/2011