COLORADO SPRINGS — Prosecutors in Detra Farries’ trial took aim Wednesday at two Colorado Springs police detectives who told the jury other investigators ignored their appeals to re-create a tow-truck driver’s dragging death.
Lead prosecutor Jeff Lindsey characterized the pair as complainers in front of the jury — asking a police witness if he remembered them “stomping their feet and saying, ‘We’re testing. We’re testing.’ “
“Actually, I don’t have any recollection that they did that — at any point in time,” replied Colorado Springs police Cmdr. Mark Smith.
Prosecutors sought to reverse potential damage from the officers’ testimony during their rebuttal to the defense’s case, which concluded Tuesday. Closing arguments are expected to be heard today. Then the case goes to the jury.
The detectives — Phil Tollefson and Dan Smoker — specialize in crash reconstructions and work in the major accident unit, which normally handles fatal hit-and-runs in Colorado Springs, such as the death of tow-truck driver Allen Lew Rose.
Responding to a question during his testimony on Tuesday, Tollefson agreed the unit was “kicked off” the investigation after pushing for the testing.
After learning the detectives had concerns about the investigation, Smith said he approached them and told them that while their suggestions were welcome, they wouldn’t always be acted upon.
“I encouraged them to be involved,” said Smith, who supervised the homicide detectives who ultimately investigated Rose’s Feb. 23, 2011, dragging-death.
Earlier, while fighting a defense motion outside the presence of the jury, Lindsey called the detectives “so-called experts” and told 4th Judicial District Judge Jann P. DuBois their statements caught him by surprise.
Smoker and Tollefson testified they did not believe the police investigation would be complete without learning how an object of similar weight and size to Rose would behave behind a sport-utility vehicle capable of towing more than 6,000 pounds.
They said a re-creation would be the only way of addressing Farries’ claims that she couldn’t see Rose behind her SUV. Instead, police relied on a “static test” in which Tollefson lay down behind the stopped SUV at the end of a 50-foot rope while another detective looked for him in a side view mirror.
The person in the driver’s seat for the test had a “clear view” of Tollefson at some locations and recognized “a blob” at another point.
Smith told the jury that other investigators decided it would be too difficult to reproduce conditions of that day, such as lighting, road conditions, traffic and the effect of a person struggling on the cable — leaving the value of an expensive test open to question.
