FAYETTEVILLE -- The black box in a 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe recorded the vehicle going about 75 mph when it rolled, ejecting and killing a passenger, an Arkansas State Police trooper testified Tuesday in the manslaughter trial of a Springdale man.
Kenneth Cole Sizemore, 22, was driving the vehicle west on Wedington Drive in Fayetteville when he overcorrected after crossing the centerline and hit a curb, causing the vehicle to cross both lanes before rolling, according to police records. The wreck happened about 11:45 p.m. Jan. 12, 2013, in front of Ozarks Electric Cooperative, 3641 Wedington Drive.
A passenger, Zachary Tyler Hagan, 20, of Fayetteville, died. He was a student at the University of Arkansas and a Springdale High School graduate.
Griffith Smith, 20, of West Fork also was a passenger in the vehicle, police said. He was treated for minor injuries.
Fayetteville police documents say a blood test showed Sizemore had difluoroethane, oxycodone, alprazolam and marijuana in his system at the time of the wreck.
Difluoroethane is used in canned air and is commonly "huffed" to get high, according to an affidavit for Sizemore's arrest. Two air dusters were found at the scene of the crash.
"The canned air got my attention as a possible cause of the accident," Fayetteville police Cpl. Kurtis Sutley testified Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court.
A receipt found on Hagan showed three cans were bought at 11:33 p.m. at a Wal-Mart store on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard just minutes before the crash on Wedington.
Sizemore told police he hadn't done any drugs in the days leading up to the fatal crash and initially denied that the three had stopped at Wal-Mart. Sizemore denied "huffing" and told police he was driving but lost control after hitting a patch of ice.
Police said it was cold but that there was no ice on the road that night.
Smith told police on two occasions after the crash that three cans of air duster were bought and that all three men were huffing from them before the wreck. On Tuesday, he said he was traumatized and doesn't remember anything leading up to the wreck or talking to police.
Trooper Bobby Clemence, an accident reconstruction expert, said the Tahoe's black box showed the brakes weren't engaged in the last 2.5 seconds before it began to roll, and the throttle was 100 percent engaged.
"If it's a deployment event, it will lock that event [in the data unit's memory] most of the time," Clemence said.
Clemence said the black box showed the Tahoe accelerating steadily from 66 mph and 95 percent throttle 2.5 seconds before the air bags deployed to 73 mph and 100 percent throttle a half-second before it started to roll. The vehicle's rollover sensor logged 75 mph.
Jack McQuary, a special prosecutor, was appointed to prosecute the case after prosecutors in Washington County declared a conflict. Zachary Hagan was the son of Brett Hagan, a detective with the Washington County sheriff's office.
If convicted, Sizemore faces three to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. He's free on $100,000 bond. The trial, before Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay, is set to resume today.
State Desk on 02/18/2015