Widow rejects trooper’s story

Kim Smith

Wednesday, July 3, 2002 | 9:30 a.m.

A Eureka woman whose husband was struck and killed by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper's car four years ago testified Tuesday that the trooper did not hit her husband after swerving to avoid a bicycle in the road.

Tammy Dodson took the stand Tuesday to disagree with Trooper Daniel Bennett's version of the events of Dec. 26, 1997.

Bennett, 39, maintains that he accidentally struck Robert "Dale" Dodson, 44, after swerving to avoid a bicycle that had fallen off the Dodsons' vehicle as they drove along Interstate 15 near Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Dale Dodson had gotten out of his Jeep Cherokee to retrieve the bike -- a Christmas present for his 10-year-old son -- when he was struck while standing in the median.

Tammy Dodson, along with her mother, Elsie Tannahill, are suing Bennett, the state and the Nevada Highway Patrol, alleging Bennett acted recklessly the night of the incident.

The family is also suing Sheriff Jerry Keller, whose department cleared Bennett of wrongdoing following an independent investigation.

The Metro Police and Highway Patrol investigation of the incident indicated it occurred in an unlit section of the freeway and that Bennett did not see the victim before the impact. He is said to have swerved into the median from the left lane because of another vehicle in the right lane.

Neither side requested a jury so the case is being heard by District Judge Lee Gates.

Dodson told Gates that Bennett ran down her husband several yards after he ran over the bicycle.

"He never swerved to avoid the bicycle," a sobbing Dodson testified Tuesday. "He kept going and he kept going and he kept going and then, for some reason, he turned the wheel off the interstate to right where (Dale Dodson) was, of all places."

After the accident, Dodson said Bennett didn't render aid to her husband and refused to let her near the body.

"He was yelling at me, 'Don't disturb the evidence' and he was shaking me and shaking me and shaking me," Dodson said.

Dodson also said Bennett acted as though he didn't know what she was talking about when she explained she and her husband were trying to retrieve a bike from the road.

"He said 'What bicycle?' " Dodson said.

Dodson acknowledged that Tuesday was the first time she's ever told anyone about either the shaking or the bicycle comment.

Accident reconstruction experts were expected to take the stand today.