Questions surround south city crash involving off-duty St. Louis cop - STLtoday.com
LOUIS • Moments after his van crashed into a woman’s property in the Bevo Mill neighborhood just before midnight on March 27, Mark Rodebaugh was the only person those who live there saw around the wreckage. Rodebaugh, an off-duty St. Louis police officer, was not arrested or tested for alcohol. Police Chief Sam Dotson said Wednesday night that Rodebaugh had said he wasn’t driving and refused a breath test. Dotson said police tried to get a warrant to test Rodebaugh’s blood, but it was refused by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office because there was not probable cause that Rodebaugh had been driving. Rodebaugh’s brother went to police two days after the crash to say he had been the driver and had run away after the crash. But four people who saw Mark Rodebaugh after the accident said they were on the scene within seconds and did not see anybody else — or hear any comments by Rodebaugh or investigators about someone who fled. “I got out here within 15 seconds,” said Cheryl Cantrell, who lives in the house where the crash happened. The police report of the accident says Mark Rodebaugh was riding in the middle of the back seat of his 2002 GMC Savana van. On April 13, the Circuit Attorney’s office charged James Rodebaugh, 43, with leaving the scene of an accident, a felony, and driving with a revoked license. Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce said the police officers at first. Source: www.stltoday.com
