From Horseplay To Horror
These two Connecticut teens, David Servin and Ashlie Krakowski, were driving northbound along Boston Post Road in Milford, Ct. when the driver of the car made a left turn onto Dogwood Road. They’d been playing a drinking game at a party and were headed to a convenience store to buy cigarettes. The time was 2:13 am. Neither of the two knew they were about to be killed.
Milford police officers Rick Pisani and Jason Anderson had just left the Utopia 77 Lounge in West Haven where they’d assisted West Haven officers with a disturbance call. The two officers, each in his own patrol car, were driving back to their assigned duties in Milford.
The officers traveled southbound on Boston Post Road, headed toward the intersection where Servin and Krakowski were entering the crossing to make their turn. The speed limit on that section of roadway is posted at 40 mph.
Milford police have 25 patrol cars in their fleet, and only two of the 25 cruisers are equipped with dash cams. Officer Pisani was driving one of those two camera-equipped cars. Those particular cameras, manufactured by I-COP, are designed to automatically begin recording video when the light bar and siren are switched on. When the camera is activated it actually has the ability to go back 60 seconds from the moment when the lights and siren were activated and store video from that point. That feature on Pisani’s dash cam was about to earn the unit’s $10,000 price tag.
When police officers are traveling in non-emergency status, meaning without lights and siren activated, they’re required to obey all traffic laws, including posted speed limits and traffic signals. At 2:13 am on June 13, 2009, Officer Pisani was traveling at speeds fluctuating between 66 and 72 mph. Remember, the posted speed limit is 40 mph on that stretch of highway. Pisali’s patrol car was traveling at 66 mph when Officer Jason Anderson passed him on the right at a speed of 94 mph, which is equal to 138 feet per second.
Officer Anderson blew through a few sets of flashing yellow lights and possibly one solid red light before approaching the intersection of Boston Post Road and Dogwood Road. He had no idea that he was about to broadside a 2008 Mazda, throwing one of its passengers 30 feet from the car and pinning the other inside.
Officer Anderson’s patrol car slammed into the side of Krakoski’s car, sending debris, sparks, and flames dozens of yards down the roadway and far into the median. Servin died at the scene and 19-year-old Krakowski died at the hospital.
Witnesses speculated that the two officers may have been drag racing at the time of the accident.
When the crash occurred, Officer Pisani activated his emergency equipment – lights and siren – which, in turn, activated the dash cam. The camera did its job and backed up 60 seconds, recording Anderson as he passed Pisani’s patrol car at 94 mph. It also captured the horrifying crash.
The patrol car’s onboard computer indicated that the engine in the patrol car was operating at 99.5% of the throttle and was at 100% accelerator pedal. The officer had his foot to the floor at impact. There were no skid marks.
Here’s the video recorded by Officer Pisani’s dash cam. His speed is displayed at the top right of the screen. Warning! This is a horrible crash.
Officer Jason Anderson has been charged and arrested for two counts of 2nd degree manslaughter, and one count of reckless driving. He was released on a $250,000 bond.
Dave Servin, 19
Ashlie Krakowski, 19
* * *
Writers Police Academy
Registration is officially open!
Please visit us at www.writerspoliceacademy.com to reserve your spot at this unique event now.
Space is limited!
I’m very pleased with the early response to the academy. We’ve been steadily receiving reservations from all across the country and Canada.
Remember, the hotel also has limited space due to other large events in the area. Please register early and be sure to tell them you’re registering for the Writers’ Police Academy to receive our special rate. If you’ve already registered and didn’t ask for the rate please call the hotel. They’ll make the adjustment.
Wow. I’m always glancing in mirrors and watching oncoming traffic when I’m driving – more so since texting and driving has become the norm. At night I’m naturally more cautious because of teens and drunk drivers in general.
I’m curious about the ages of the police officers. Are they relatively new to the force (20s with energy to spare who feel they are invincible) or have they been around for a while and really should know better?
No excuse either way, and definitely a preventable tragedy. My heart goes out to all the families.
-Lisa
I hope the P.O.S winds up in general population and gets gutted by another scumbag criminal. Abuse of power. He deserves the death penalty.
SZ – I still agree with you, I was offering my thoughts as to why the officer still remains on the street, working.
Testing 1 2 3
Ok, I have not driven a car today, however while out running I stopped at a light on a stretch where people are going approx 35 – 45 mph. In daylight, the cars coming at you seem slower then I expected. It seemed a motorcycle had a faster “coming at you” feel. Maybe the side of a freeway would be a better gauge.
Lee, not to be a negative Nancy, it just does not seem wise to put a man in the work force that involves safety just immediately following this horrid wreck. Surely this man is feeling devastated by his own actions and not up to 100% I could be wrong.
SZ – I wholeheartedly agree. I think the second officer should at least be taken off the street pending the outcome of the investigation. But I don’t believe the small department could stand to lose 10% of their manpower at once, and still meet the shift demands.
Margaret – Well said.
Wow. . . too bad two people had to die because an office was blowing off steam and having ‘fun’. Yeah, I worked nights and know how dull it can be (2-4 AM is the ‘witching hour’), but it doesn’t excuse this. I hope the jury does the right thing (I know I would toss the cop’s butt in jail). And I hope the officer has nightmares. True, the victims were underage drinkers, but they didn’t deserve to die.
This is sad indeed. It just seems like those two were going so fast those kids would have seen. If I drive today now I am going to be looking at all oncoming cars out of curiosity. Sober and older though.
It is a shame to have officers that are not always law abiding as well. The other officer should not be working, or getting “paid while investigated”. Personal opinion of course.
Hi Stacy. Thanks for stopping by,and for the kind words.
Jonathan – Good analysis.
Here’s what I gathered from the video, and from the arrest warrant affidavit. First, the flashing lights were all yellow and the one steadily illuminated traffic light was believed to be red. This was according to details from the arrest warrant.
Next, I don’t see an indication that the driver of the Mazda slowed the car at all during the turn. Once he (Servin was driving Krakowski’s car) committed to the turn he continued forward at the same speed.
The Mazda’s headlights do brighten a bit when it nears the corner, but I’m almost certain that’s due to either a dip or bump in the road at the corner, which changed the elevation of the light beams.
I agree, the officer definitely applied his brakes at the last second, but he did it far too late. At 138 feet per second there was no chance of avoiding the collision. He also veered slightly to the right just before impact. I’ll go out on a limb here to say, and this is just a hunch, but I’m basing it on having worked many accidents in my days as a deputy sheriff and as a city patrol officer, that the officer may have been looking in his rear view mirror to see if his drag racing partner was gaining on him. The moment when he looked back at the roadway was when he saw the Mazda and then attempted to brake and turn away. This would also explain why Anderson didn’t see the car turning in front of him, if that’s even the case. I’ve haven’t seen any statements from him (I’m sure he hasn’t made any, either).
Some of the blame does fall on the victims, unfortunately. They’d both been drinking alcohol before climbing into the car. A witness at the party they’d been attending said the couple was “buzzed.” Still, if the officer had been obeying the speed limit the crash would not have occurred. It’s very difficult to judge the speed on an oncoming car, especially at night when you can’t see the vehicle’s motion, or the “loping” that’s associated with high rates of speed.
I considered myself a good driver with good judgment and observation skills before I attended the police academy. However, when I attended the certification course to become a radar operator I quickly learned that I wasn’t as skilled as I thought. Not even close. Neither were the rest of my classmates. Part of our training was to estimate the speed of moving vehicles within a couple of miles per hour. It took quite a bit of practice before we became proficient at the exercise. Therefore, I feel safe in saying that two 19-year-old kids who’d been drinking would not have been able to judge the distance and speed of the oncoming police car.
Reconstruction experts have already examined most of the evidence from the crash, and that’s why they felt confident with issuing an arrest warrant for Officer Anderson.
By the way, we have an accident reconstruction expert on staff for the Writers’ Police Academy and he’ll be guiding attendees through an actual crash investigation. We’ll have a accident scene set up with real cars, skid marks, broken glass, etc.
This is indeed a tragedy.
It’s difficult to tell from the video – were the traffic signals flashing yellow, or red? That hour of the night, either is possible.
It appears that the Toyota may have come to a full stop – the headlights brighten as it accelerates into its left turn, and there would be no reason for that if he was slowing to turn on a flashing yellow.
I don’t have frame-by-frame capability on this, but it also looks like Officer Anderson applied his brakes about 1/2 second before impact – maybe 60 feet before the intersection. Add .2 seconds reaction time, if that’s still the accepted standard, another 25 feet or so. Effective evasive action on Anderson’s part would have been difficult by then.
But the Toyota had committed to the turn long before that. The headlight lift was the first clue, followed by the lateral motion. Anderson should have been looking for that – that’s basic civilian safe driving technique, for goodness sake! And that headlight lift appears to have come 1-1/2 to 2 seconds before the brake lights came on. It’s not definite the crash could have been avoided, but it looks like a great opportunity to slow and swerve was missed.
At the risk of appearing to shift blame to the victims, trying to imagine the view from the Toyota, I don’t think I would have made that turn. The two oncoming vehicles should have been obvious. The high speeds would have been unexpected and difficult to judge, but it should have been clear that they were not slowing for the intersection. But I say that with the benefit of 30 years more driving experience than Mr. Servin or Ms. Krakowski had.
This crash was senseless, on many levels. I’ll refrain from saying what I’m really thinking, because there are a lot of facts I don’t have. Suffice it to say, a lot of questions need to be answered, and appropriate response made.
My condolences to family and friends of Dave Servin and Ashlie Krakowski.
Lee,
This was an awesome post. I salute you for putting this on your blog. You are a credit to the force, that is for sure. I am sad that these two people died,so young. Thanks for sharing.
Stacy