Crown Victoria Cleared in Trooper's Death

May 21, 2004

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AIADA summary

ST. LOUIS - The gas tank of a Missouri state highway patrolman's Ford Crown Victoria was not to blame when the cruiser burst into flames after being slammed from behind during a traffic stop, killing the officer, federal investigators have ruled.

Gas tanks in Crown Victorias have been scrutinized following a number of fiery wrecks that killed law enforcers, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the gas tank of Trooper Michael Newton's vehicle was not compromised in the collision.

The crash wedged Newton's car door shut, trapping him, federal investigators said.

ST. LOUIS - The gas tank of a Missouri state highway patrolman's Ford Crown Victoria was not to blame when the cruiser burst into flames after being slammed from behind during a traffic stop, killing the officer, federal investigators have ruled.

Gas tanks in Crown Victorias have been scrutinized following a number of fiery wrecks that killed law enforcers, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the gas tank of Trooper Michael Newton's vehicle was not compromised in the collision.

"There wasn't any evidence of a safety-related defect," NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson said Wednesday.

Newton, 25, had pulled over a driver on Interstate 70 in western Missouri last May and was parked along the highway's eastbound shoulder when his car was hit from behind by a pickup truck and burst into flames.

The crash wedged Newton's car door shut, trapping him, federal investigators said. The motorist he'd pulled over was rescued by two motorists from Newton's passenger seat; he was badly burned but survived.

The NHTSA report said the fire began after something still unknown ignited gasoline that apparently spewed from the vehicle's filler tube, which was severed in the crash. The filler tube - the channel where gasoline is pumped into the gas tank during refueling - could have become disconnected in any type of vehicle struck from behind at that speed, the investigators concluded.

"NHTSA is confirming what we've been trying to say all along - the Crown Victoria is just as safe if not safer than the comparable competitor," Ford spokeswoman Kristen Kinley said from the company's headquarters in Dearborn, Mich.

Capt. Chris Ricks, a spokesman for the patrol, said NHTSA's findings mirrored those of a patrol-hired consultant - and that the patrol remains comfortable about the safety of Crown Victorias, accounting for nearly all of the agency's roughly 800-car fleet.

"We're very aware of the crash that took Trooper Newton's life, but we feel safe with the vehicle we're using," Ricks said. "What we've lost focus of is that, had the driver of the truck been obeying the law and moved to the left (to give Newton's car clearance), this would have been a moot point. That's been glossed over."

Last October, Daniel pleaded guilty in Lafayette County to misdemeanors including failure to yield to an emergency vehicle. He was sentenced in December to six months in jail and about $1,900 in fines, followed by two years of probation.

Lawsuits filed by Newton's family and Nolte claimed the location of the Crown Victoria's fuel tank was partly to blame for the car igniting.

A message left Wednesday with the Newton family's attorney was not immediately returned.

In recent years, police and safety groups had questioned the safety of Crown Victoria gas tanks, given crash-related fires blamed in the deaths of at least a dozen officers nationwide since 1983.

In October 2002, NHTSA said a 10-month investigation found no defect in the cars, that the Crown Victoria exceeds federal standards for fuel system safety, and that the rate of fires was not much greater than with Chevrolet Caprice police cars.

Still, Ford - in the wake of the government's investigation - agreed to retrofit the 350,000 Crown Victoria police cars nationwide with shields around the gas tank. Newton's car had such a shield.

Ford also agreed to pay for the modifications and study ways to bolster safety in the cars, broadly used by police agencies across the country.