First National Police Charger Cruiser Crash and Death

Trooper William McClendon None/

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Accident report to fault trooper

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A report on a collision that killed a state trooper and a truck driver last month will indicate that the trooper made an improper turn across Interstate 44, officials said.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol was expected to release the six-page report Thursday morning, OHP spokeswoman Kera Philippi said.

Trooper William McClendon, 37, was trying to do a U-turn on Interstate 44 on Oct. 1 by cutting through a gap in the concrete median.

Only law enforcement and emergency officials are legally permitted to try this maneuver. It is prohibited for the general motoring public.

Before McClendon’s Dodge Charger could make it through the barrier, it was crushed by a tractor-trailer driven by Hussein Haji-ege Osman, 25.

The crash happened near Claremore on the Will Rogers Turnpike, a part of I-44 connecting Tulsa with southwestern Missouri.

McClendon, an eight-year patrol veteran, was eastbound on I-44 on patrol when he received an emergency call.

After that call was canceled, he attempted to turn around through an opening in the barrier, typically located every two or three miles, when he was hit by Osman’s eastbound rig.

The report also will indicate McClendon’s emergency lights were activated, that Osman was speeding, failed to yield to an emergency vehicle and was operating a vehicle with unsafe brakes, the OHP said.

But Harpreet Sidhu, owner of the truck and Osman’s best friend, said the rig was in good working order.

Sidhu owns Arsh Transport, a Bakersfield, Calif.-based produce-trucking company.

Mary Pinelo, office manager at Arsh Transport and Sidhu’s wife, said Wednesday the report backs up the company’s claims the truck was safe to drive.

“No one should be allowed to make a turn there,” Pinelo said.

Dan Case, executive director of the Oklahoma Trucking Association, said Wednesday it appeared investigators were trying to blame the driver or the company for faulty brakes.

“As we all know, you can’t stop a 70,000-pound vehicle on a dime,” Case said.

The Highway Patrol also had said it was unclear why McClendon made the turn, but that it was possible he saw something on the other side of the road that caused him to turn around, such as a speeding car.

The next exit was at Adair, nine miles away.

Photographs taken at the accident scene reveal dark skid marks that show Osman tried to brake and swerve away from McClendon’s cruiser.

“I drove a truck all my life, I understand how it works,” McClendon’s brother, Richard, said Wednesday. “It’s a bad deal any way you look at it”

Richard McClendon said blame should be shared between the trucker and the trooper, and that his brother loved his job.

“He always told me if he went, it would be in his car,” he said.

Case also laid part of the blame for the accident on McClendon’s Dodge Charger, which he said is notorious for having a blind spot.

“Those aren’t suitable for duty on the turnpike,” Case said. “I was wondering what they were thinking when they bought the Dodge Charger.”

In its investigation, the highway patrol analyzed information from a digital “black box” inside McClendon’s cruiser that records things like speed, when a driver hits the brakes or when the airbags deployed to help piece together the cause of the crash.

Last year, three people were killed in two accidents on the Turner Turnpike in eastern Oklahoma County after attempting similar U-turns. Since 2004, there have been at least 10 fatalities on Oklahoma’s roads near turnabouts, according to the highway patrol.