Drivers Death Leads to questions on handling of crash.
OCTOBER 3. 2000
BY DAVID GREEN
dgreen@herald.com
Twice in two months, cars have careened off expressways late at night.
In both cases, authorities failed to find them - and then called off their searches.
These failures have raised questions about how law enforcement agencies look for missing vehicles, and what motorists can expect if they sail off the road.
"Something has to change, said Fernan Restrepo, whose father, Dario Restrepo, drowned early Saturday after his Mercedes- Benz plunged into a shallow canal off Interstate 75 near Interstate 595.
"I want to know that if I'm driving [and crash], that someone will come looking for me - not just leave me there."
The elder Restrepo lost control of his car in a rainstorm and crashed shortly after I a.m. A passing Florida Highway Patrol trooper noticed his car, upside- down in the water, six hours later - despite a frantic passerby who repeatedly reported the crash shortly after it happened.
It was unclear Monday how long the 70-year-old dentist remained alive inside his car after it overturned in the five-foot-deep canal. His family said it could have been hours.
SUING: Carlos Albeic Restrepo, left, and his brother, Fernan, are filing a lawsuit over the death of their father, Dario Restrepo, who died after his car crashed into a canal along I-75 and searchers Failed to find him in time.
They are now filing a wrongful-death civil lawsuit against the Broward Sheriff's Office and the city of Weston. His family also has asked the Broward State Attorney's Office to investigate BSO's handling of the crash. The state attorney's office said it-would look into the matter. In the meantime, the Restrepos' outrage underscores a growing concern: Are authorities doing enough to find motorists who go off the road?
The problem for police is determining whether the report of a missing vehicle is legitimate - in which case more resources should be brought in to find it - or whether the caller was mistaken.
For example, the Florida Highway Patrol investigated 1,261 crashes in August. Although exact statistics are not available, in "most situations" troopers arrived to find no cars or people, according to Lt. Pembrook Burrows.
"People have settled it between themselves," Burrows said. "They've exchanged information and are gone."
Similarly, BSO sent deputies to respond to about 31,000 calls of all kinds in August; 83 percent were unfounded.
In instances where a report of a crash may be mistaken, neither BSO nor FHP has an exact procedure on how to proceed, officials at those agencies said. Instead, their investigators use their judgment.
They look for tire marks leading to the edge of the road; they scrutinize the area for telltale debris or impact marks. And they hunt for witnesses.
In Restrepo's case, according to BSO, the witness gave the wrong location for the crash. Although it occurred on 1-75 near the 1-595 interchange, witness Diane Bilodeau told a deputy it had happened at the Arvida Parkway exit - more than a mile south
Other deputies were called in. They scoured three different points on the expressway. Eventually, a BSO helicopter equipped with a powerful "night sun" spotlight was brought in to search by air in the rain.
But because they did not initially take down Bilodeau's name or telephone number, they did not call her back to ask her to lead them to the crash location. Instead, they assumed her report was unfounded.
Similarly, 83-year-old Tillie Tooter spent three days lying in her car beneath 1-595 after she plunged off the road into a swamp in August. Witnesses reported the crash at the time, but authorities canceled their initial search after they failed to find her vehicle.
In that case, too, they assumed the callers were mistaken.
"This has to be put into perspective," said Jim Leljedal, BSO spokesman, referring to the Restrepo investigation. "We get unfounded calls all the time. There's only so much you're going to do with each one."
Neither FHP nor BSO has a specific policy about re-contacting witnesses if a missing car cannot be found - or even taking their names and contact numbers.
This, Restrepo's family says, is the problem.
"You have a situation where you have people going off the road and not being found in time," said the family's lawyer, Roy Oppenheim. "Something is clearly wrong."
As investigators from FHP and BSO try to figure out what went wrong with the handling of Restrepo's crash, his grieving family insisted law enforcement agencies needed to change their policies.
Those authorities disagree. "I'm not aware of any policy changes right now," countered Burrows, spokesman for FHP, which was not contacted to assist in the search for Restrepo's car but which handled the investigation into Tooter's crash.
"Our position right now is to continue on with our investigations" as before.
In the meantime, such grisly mishaps are bound to occur again as the volume of traffic swells across South Florida.
On an average day this summer, vehicles traveled about 24 million miles on Broward expressways, according to the Florida Department of Transportation. That is the equivalent of driving around the Earth 1,000 times.
Funeral services for Dario Restroom will be held from 4-6 p.m. today at- T.M. Ralph Funeral home in Sunrise.
