Wisconsin: Man on trial for tow truck driver’s death

Ten and 39 seconds. Short but very meaningful.

Those time segments, as well as four emotion-drawing videotapes, were evidence highlights Wednesday during the first day of Steven Dolan’s vehicular homicide trial in Jackson County.

Dolan, 51, of La Crosse, is charged with homicide by negligent use of a motor vehicle in the death of veteran tow truck operator Nate Walsh, 38, of Osseo on Oct. 20, 2014.

Dolan displayed little emotion as a State Patrol dash cam video and three videos from cameras on Walsh’s tow truck were aired.

“Nate, Nate, can you hear me?” Trooper Steven Wojcik is heard saying shortly after he arrives at the crash site in the westbound lanes of Interstate 94 about three miles east of Osseo.

“Come on, Nate,” Wojcik, who knew Walsh because of work-related calls, repeatedly and earnestly calls as he attempts to resuscitate Walsh, whose severely injured body was on the bed of the flatbed truck. “Come on, Nate, stay with me.”

Walsh was pronounced dead at the scene after being struck by the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 truck Dolan was driving. Walsh was attempting to hook a disabled SUV to the tow truck.

One video displays the cab of the tow truck rocking as Dolan’s truck strikes the tow truck, causing several people in the courtroom to gasp Wednesday.

Wojcik, the first officer at the scene, said Dolan initially told him he “thought he hit something in the road and pulled over, and that’s when he saw the tow truck and disabled vehicle.” Wojcik later testified that Dolan said he was “changing lanes and looking in his mirror” at the time of the crash.

Wojcik also testified that the position of the tow truck, which had its emergency lights operating, can be seen for about 39 seconds at highway speed before reaching that spot.

Roger Johnson, an experienced tow truck operator and owner of The Loft Service Center of Osseo, said it would have taken about 10 seconds for Walsh, who was wearing a reflective jacket, to be crouched or on his knees to hook a winch cable to the left front of the disabled vehicle.

The tow truck and disabled vehicle were on the right shoulder of the highway, but a guardrail prevented them being further right.

Reports indicate Dolan didn’t apply his truck brakes before the collision and that his truck crossed the fog line, hit the safety-conscious Walsh and stayed on that line to sideswipe the tow truck.

None of the five people from the disabled vehicle witnessed Dolan’s truck strike Walsh.

District Attorney Gerald Fox said the case is about Dolan not moving his vehicle to the left-hand side of the two-lane highway, nor slowing down as the emergency scene approached, eventually causing “catastrophic injuries” to Walsh.

“There is a difference between an accident and something that law and common sense tells them they should do,” he said, referring in part to the state’s Move Over Law for emergency vehicles.

Defense attorney Eric Sheets of Stevens Point said the case is about intent, “solely about criminal responsibility. Two good men left their homes that day to help people, and because of a tragic accident, one of them did not return home. Not all accidents and tragedies are crimes.”

A toxicologist from the state crime lab in Madison testified Dolan, who has had numerous back surgeries, had only caffeine and a very minor amount of prescription drugs in his system.

Matthew Dolan, 27, of Elk Mound, was asleep in his dad’s truck at the time of the crash.

Steven Dolan, after the crash, is seen on video walking back to the scene, then running back to his truck and removing items from the roadway before returning to the tow truck site with his son.

Records also indicate: Neither of the Dolans were using a phone; the sun was not a factor at 8:21 a.m.; and an inspection showed nothing mechanically wrong with Dolan’s truck.

Fox said Dolan “simply was not paying attention. Something was distracting him.”

Sheets offered no explanation for Dolan striking Walsh and the tow truck.

The felony charge has a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Fox said he would likely conclude his case today. The trial is scheduled to conclude Friday.