Passer-by says Petrino vetoed 911-call offer

State police captain is asked to detail his role after crash

Petrino and King leave the field after the Razorback loss in the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on January 4, 2011. The Razorbacks won the Cotton Bowl earlier this year and finished 11-2.
Petrino and King leave the field after the Razorback loss in the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on January 4, 2011. The Razorbacks won the Cotton Bowl earlier this year and finished 11-2.

— University of Arkansas football Coach Bobby Petrino and his female passenger, a UA employee, asked a man who passed their motorcycle accident Sunday not to call 911, according to an audio recording released by the Arkansas State Police on Friday.

Arkansas athletics director Jeff Long addresses Bobby Petrino's suspension as Razorbacks head football coach on Thursday night in Fayetteville.

Jeff Long - Bobby Petrino Suspension

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Also Friday, state police officials said they asked Capt. Lance King to provide a summary of his role in the aftermath of the accident, which happened on north Arkansas 16 in rural Madison County. King, who coordinates the security detail for the Razorbacks, transported Petrino, 51, to a hospital after receiving a call from the coach’s cell phone, according to the state police.

Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino talks about a motorcycle accident that left him with four broken ribs, a cracked vertebrae and a neck sprain.

Bobby Petrino - Motorcycle Accident

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UA Athletic Director Jeff Long put Petrino on paid administrative leave Thursday night after the release of a state police report revealed that the coach had lied about being alone in the accident. Jessica Dorrell, 25, a former UA volleyball player who was hired March 28 as the football program’s student-athlete development coordinator, was on the motorcycle with Petrino, the report said.

The initial 911 call following the Bobby Petrino motorcycle accident.

Petrino 911 Call

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Petrino did not mention Dorrell in his public account of the accident at a news conference Tuesday. UA released a statement the day after the accident on Petrino’s behalf saying no one else was involved in the accident.

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University of Arkansas

A woman identified as Jessica Dorrell on the University of Arkansas athletics website.

After the state police released the accident report, Petrino publicly acknowledged to Long and reporters that he did have a passenger.

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Bobby Petrino's Harley-Davidson motorcycle following an accident on Sunday.

“My concern was to protect my family and a previous inappropriate relationship from becoming public,” he said in Thursday’s statement.

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Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino speaks during a news conference in Fayetteville on Tuesday, April 3, 2012, after being released from a hospital.

UA assistant head coach Taver Johnson is filling in for Petrino while Long reviews the matter.

A 911 call and dispatch logs that state police released Friday indicate that Petrino and Dorrell left the accident scene before Larry Hendren, who happened upon the accident, could call authorities.

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Special to the Three Rivers edition of the Democrat-Gazette

Jessica Dorrell and University of Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino appear together in this Feb. 23 file photograph at Searcy High School during a meeting of the White County Razorback Club.

Hendren told a dispatcher that a man and woman got into a white sport utility vehicle. He said the man’s face was bleeding “quite a lot,” but he was walking on his own.

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The Associated Press

Additional photos from the site of Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino's motorcycle accident.

“They declined us to call 911,” Hendren told the dispatcher. “They got into a vehicle and headed for the hospital.”

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The Associated Press

Additional photos from the site of Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino's motorcycle accident.

He said the woman didn’t appear to be injured.

Hendren gave the dispatcher the motorcycle’s license plate number and said that registration information found on the vehicle listed Robert Petrino and Rebecca Petrino as its owners.

DOCUMENTS

Read Petrino's crash report and radio log. More documents will be added as they become available.

Trooper Joshua Arnold was in northern Madison County arresting a fugitive when the 911 call came in at 6:36 p.m., said Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler.

Arnold waited for another trooper to arrive to transport the fugitive, then headed toward the accident site on Arkansas 16 at 6:50 p.m., Sadler said.

At 6:40 p.m., the log shows Arnold called Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville to advise staff members about the accident and ask them to call the state police if the accident victims showed up.

TIMELINE

A timeline

of Bobby Petrino's career in Arkansas.

That’s common practice for troopers in rural areas when accident victims have left before police arrive, Sadler said.

The state police investigation report released Thursday focused on the motorcycle accident, not on what happened afterward, Sadler said.

Petrino statement

“The state police report today provides an accurate description of my accident, which includes details that had not publically come to light prior to the report being issued. I regret that I have not publically acknowledged a passenger on the vehicle. I have been in constant pain, medicated and the circumstances involving the wreck have come out in bits and pieces. That said I certainly had a concern about Jessica Dorrell’s name being revealed. In my press conference, I referred to her simply as ‘a lady’. My concern was to protect my family and a previous inappropriate relationship from becoming public. In hindsight, I showed a serious mistake in judgment when I chose not to be more specific about those details. Today, I’ve acknowledged this previous inappropriate relationship with my family and those within the athletic department administration.

I apologize to my wife, Becky, and our four children, Chancellor (David) Gearhart, Jeff Long, the Board of Trustees, University administration, my coaching staff, student-athletes and the entire state of Arkansas. I have been humbled by the outpouring of concern and get-well wishes. I apologize to the Razorback Nation for the attention my actions have brought to the University of Arkansas and our program. I will fully cooperate with the University throughout this process and my hope is to repair my relationships with my family, my Athletic Director, the Razorback Nation and remain the head coach of the Razorbacks.”

But reporters and the public have asked about King’s role in the case, prompting his supervisors to request that he write a summary of his involvement “and any information Captain King may have learned about the crash during conversations with Coach Petrino.”

“While the inquiries have no direct correlation to the investigation of the motor vehicle crash, the questions are legitimate and worthy of answers,” Sadler said in a news release.

He also said the information King passes along to his supervisors “may be shared with the public early next week. What information will be released will depend on what facts Captain King provides to his supervisor.”

The state police report said the passers-by dropped off Petrino with King in a parking lot, that King then took Petrino to Physician Specialty Hospital in Fayetteville and that Dorrell left in her vehicle.

AFTER THE ACCIDENT

The mother of Benjamin Williams, the motorist who drove Petrino and Dorrell from the accident scene, said her son gave contradictory statements about what happened in an attempt not to contribute to Petrino’s problems.

The state police report issued Thursday said Williams and Jody Diane Stewart of Ozark drove Petrino and Dorrell from the accident north on Arkansas 16 to East Huntsville Road and Crossover Road in Fayetteville, where they met King.


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But Williams and Stewart told reporters in a brief interview Thursday night that they didn’t pick up a woman at the crash site.

Saying Friday that she was acting as her son’s spokesman, Molly Lewis said her son and his fiancee picked up a man and a woman at the wreck site. That concurs with the state police report.

“I’m setting the record straight on my son’s behalf,” Lewis said in an interview outside her son’s home. “There was [another] woman in that car.”

Lewis said Williams gave a truthful account to the state trooper. But after reporters began to contact the couple, Williams told his mother that he didn’t want to hurt Petrino.

“I am the one who helped him,” she recounted Williams saying.

Lewis said Williams and Stewart were not part of any attempt to cover up the truth.

“There was no dialogue in the car,” she said. “They were frantic to get him to a hospital. There was so much blood, my son was sick to his stomach.” And contrary to the police report, she said that her ill son “was let off in Elkins” and that Stewart continued to drive the car, taking Petrino and Dorrell to an intersection in Fayetteville.

Since the accident, “There have been no dealings between Bobby Petrino and my son,” she said. “He was never asked to stay silent by the coach or anyone at the university. The account by the state police is correct.”

Williams and Stewart were out of town Friday, Lewis said, and could not be contacted. No one answered a reporter’s knock on their door.

UA INVESTIGATES

UA Chancellor G. David Gearhart, Long’s boss, did not respond to interview requests Friday. Instead he deferred to UA spokesman John Diamond to answer questions.

Diamond said Gearhart believes that UA should follow a process “for reviewing instances where university employees are believed to have acted in a manner inconsistent with their duties and obligations.

“This is a process that applies regardless, whether the person is a very high-profile person of the university community or not.”

Long first informed Gearhart of Petrino’s admission about Dorrell’s involvement in the accident Thursday afternoon, shortly after Petrino told Long about it in a 3:12 p.m. phone call, Diamond said.

Long has not given a timeline for his investigation or specified what information he plans to review.

Petrino, who was hired by Long in December 2007, has a 34-17 record in four seasons at UA and took the Razorbacks to three consecutive bowl games.

“Certainly I’m disappointed,” Long said Thursday night. “I brought Coach Petrino here ... so I want to make sure I do the appropriate review.”

Petrino’s attorney, Russ Campbell of Birmingham, Ala., who was in Fayetteville for Long’s 10 p.m. news conference Thursday, said Friday that he was flying back to Alabama.

“Coach Petrino said pretty much everything he can say in his statement [Thursday] night,” Campbell said. “He’s still trying to recover from the accident right now. We’re going to stick with the statement.”

UA has invested heavily in Petrino, installing artificial turf at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in 2009, before Petrino’s second season, to suit his fast-paced offense, and then began construction of a football operations facility estimated to cost more than $35 million to upgrade the program.

Construction and cost adjustments earlier this year rose that figure to $40.35 million.

The university gave Petrino a seven-year contract after the Razorbacks’ trip to the Sugar Bowl after the 2010 season. His salary this year is $2.985 million.

Petrino’s contract includes a buyout clause that decreases each year Petrino stays. The figure is $18 million in 2012, meaning Petrino would be responsible for that money if he left prematurely or the football program would be on the hook for $18 million if it dismissed him without cause.

Petrino’s contract also includes a personal-conduct clause. UA, at its sole discretion, can dismiss Petrino for cause for conduct it deems inappropriate, and that could reduce or eliminate the buyout.

Other potential punishments include reduction in salary or incentives, suspension without pay or reduction in special allowances or unusual expenses.

Dorrell, who did not return a phone message Thursday, was hired as the football program’s student-athlete development coordinator on March 28 at an annual salary of $55,735. That matched the salary made by her predecessor, Dann Kabala, based on a raise he received in December that was retroactive to last July 1, said university spokesman Steve Voorhies.

UA declined to respond to a request Friday for Dorrell’s current status in the athletic department and whether she has asked for or been placed on leave, saying it considers that information part of her personnel record and not available for public release, Voorhies said.

Information for this article was contributed by Evie Blad, Bill Bowden, Chris Branam, Tracie Dungan and Matthew Harris of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and Matt Jones of ArkansasOnline.

Petrino and the Razorbacks

Dec. 11, 2007

PETRINO LEAVES FALCONS Petrino resigns as head coach of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons after 13 games and is introduced as Arkansas’ head football coach at a late-night news conference.

Aug. 30, 2008 FIRST GAME Petrino coaches his first game at Arkansas, gets a 28-24 win over Western Illinois. The Razorbacks go on to finish his first season with a 5-7 record.

Jan. 2, 2010

VICTORY AT LIBERTY BOWL Petrino coaches Arkansas to a 20-17 overtime win over East Carolina in the Liberty Bowl. The win was the Razorbacks’ first in a bowl game in six years.

Dec. 11, 2010 7-YEAR CONTRACT Petrino agrees to a seven-year contract to remain at Arkansas through the 2017 season. The deal made the coach one of college football's highest-paid at $3.56 million each season and included an $18 million mutual buyout clause.

Jan. 4, 2011 SUGAR BOWL Petrino coaches Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl - the Razorbacks’ first appearance in the Bowl Championship Series. Arkansas lost 31-26 to Ohio State, but the Buckeyes later vacated the win because of NCAA infractions.

Nov. 4, 2011 FOOTBALL FACILITY Largely in part because of his success at Arkansas, Petrino helps break ground on a $40.35 million football operations center set to be completed in 2013.

Jan. 7, 2012 COTTON BOWL Petrino leads Arkansas to a 29-16 win over Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl for the program's second bowl win in three seasons. The Razorbacks finished with an 11-2 record, tying for the most wins ever in a season.

April 5, 2012 PLACED ON LEAVE An Arkansas State Police report reveals that Jessica Dorrell, a female football staff member hired one week earlier, was on the motorcycle with Petrino when it crashed Sunday. The report contradicts statements made by Petrino earlier in the week that he was riding alone. Petrino admitted to a previous “inappropriate relationship” after the police report was released, and he was placed on paid administrative leave pending a review by university athletics director Jeff Long.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 04/07/2012

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