Cass County deputy disciplined after not helping seconds before deadly crash

FARGO — A Cass County sheriff’s deputy was punished for

not helping a semi

stopped along Interstate 94 near Mapleton, North Dakota, seconds before another truck slammed into it,

causing a fiery crash that killed a man.

Sheriff Jesse Jahner suspended Deputy Jolene Fletcher on May 17 for four days without pay for not stopping to check on Yuhai Zhu, 53, of Richmond Hill, Ontario, on March 15.

Moments after the deputy passed Zhu’s semi, Randall Buxton, 72, of New Westminster, British Columbia, crashed his semi into the back of Zhu’s rig about 2 miles west of Mapleton.

Jahner declined to comment since the criminal case against Zhu remains open. The Forum’s attempts to reach Fletcher were unsuccessful.

The crash set the two semis ablaze and killed Buxton. Zhu is facing negligent homicide and reckless endangerment charges after North Dakota troopers alleged he stopped his vehicle in the right lane of the interstate’s westbound side.

North Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Bryan Niewind said Zhu

didn’t experience a mechanical issue

that would have forced him to stop. Zhu had time to pull over to the side, and he didn’t take proper measures to warn others he had stopped, such as setting up emergency triangles, state troopers said.

Zhu has pleaded not guilty in the case.

Documents detailing the internal investigation into Fletcher said she passed Zhu’s semi without stopping. Cass County Sheriff’s Office policy says on-duty deputies who see disabled vehicles along the road “should make a reasonable effort to provide assistance.”

Fletcher wasn’t assigned to a patrol shift when she passed Zhu, though she was in uniform and driving a marked patrol vehicle, the investigative report said. She was on her way to Flasher, North Dakota, to pick up a community outreach therapy K9, a trip Jahner approved, according to the report.

Fletcher, a 13-year vet of the sheriff’s office, said she had worked 17 ½ hours the day before the crash, that she was tired and didn’t remember passing Zhu’s vehicle, the report said. She also said she was unaware of the semi stopped on the interstate.

Dispatchers received a call about Zhu’s semi stopping in the road about two minutes before the crash, Niewind said Wednesday in Cass County District Court. Video showed Fletcher driving past the semi about 45 seconds before the collision, according to the internal investigative report.

“Even if Deputy Fletcher had noticed the vehicle and that it was stopped in the driving lane, I do not know that Deputy Fletcher would have had enough time to try and intervene,” Jahner said in his report.

The report noted that witnesses said they didn’t notice the semi was stopped until they were near it. If Fletcher had noticed the stopped semi, she would have had to drive to the next exit and turn around to drive back to it, the report said. She also could have called dispatchers to see if anyone was nearby, the report said.

Backing up along the shoulder or ditch, which was full of snow, or backing down the passing lane were not safe options, Jahner said in the report.

“I do not believe 45 seconds would have been enough time to conduct any of these responses,” Jahner said in the report.

Still, Jahner wrote that he expected Fletcher to “make every attempt to help however she could” after the crash. He determined the deputy was negligent in her duties.

Along with the four-day suspension, Fletcher lost her take-home vehicle privilege and was suspended from secondary job duties until at least June 30. She also was ordered to conduct a two-week ride-along evaluation.

April Baumgarten joined The Forum in February 2019 as an investigative reporter. She grew up on a ranch 10 miles southeast of Belfield, N.D., where her family raises Hereford cattle. She double majored in communications and history/political science at the University of Jamestown, N.D.