WASHINGTON-Former Rep. Wes Watkins (R-Okla.) has agreed to a $2 million settlement in connection with a fatal car crash in which driver cell-phone use is alleged, but the ex-lawmaker faces possible jail time over the district attorney’s charge of negligent homicide.
Watkins, 65, has a Dec. 20 pre-trial hearing in Payne County, Okla., court. The two-count misdemeanor charge carries a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to a year of imprisonment.
The traffic accident Watkins is accused of causing killed 30-year-old Brian Cullen and his wife Ardith, 24. Two of their three daughters involved in the collision, 3-year-old Lindsey and 4-year-old Meagan, suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The older sister, Ashlee Cullen, 9, was not traveling with her family at the time of the April 19 highway crash. All three daughters are under the care of a grandmother.
The question of whether cell-phone use contributed to the car crash is in dispute.
Bill Reynolds, a lawyer for the Cullen family, said all indications point to Watkins being on his mobile phone at the time of the accident.
“We feel unequivocally the [phone] records show he was on his cell phone,” said Reynolds.
Watkins could not be reached for comment. But his lawyer, Dennis King, said his client’s cell-phone records are inconclusive.
King said Watkins was talking on his cell phone shortly before the accident. However, King said the $2 million settlement cut short the civil suit and, therefore, no evidence was produced to firmly establish whether Watkins was or was not on his cell phone when the accident occurred.
“This was a relatively minor accident that turned into a catastrophic accident due to circumstances,” said King. King said another driver called 911 from a cell phone to report the accident.
Watkins, a Democrat and later an independent before becoming Republican, served in the U.S. Congress from 1977 to 1990. In April, Watkins was appointed to the board of directors of eMerge Interactive Inc., a Sebastian, Fla., firm that uses radio frequency identification technology to track cattle.
In a similar case, the family of a 22-year-old female driver claims Ashley Townsend was not talking on her cell phone at the time of a fatal accident in central Florida in late October when a 5-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl were killed.
“It appears she was not on the phone,” said Kim LaFleur. LaFleur said the statement is based on Townsend’s mobile-phone records.
Yamilka and Ivan Velez have filed a suit against Townsend and, according to press reports, are fighting to get Florida to pass a new distracted-driver law.
