Report issued on crash into Austintown cruiser

By Ed Runyan

The federal government hasn’t said whether the Crown Victorias are safe.

AUSTINTOWN — A report from the private crash research company Callspan says the explosion and fire that resulted from a rear-end collision involving Austintown Patrolman Ross Linert’s cruiser occurred because the gas tank’s fuel- sending unit ejected from the fuel tank.

Lt. Bryan Kloss said the report doesn’t draw any conclusions from its examination of the vehicle, such as whether the Ford Crown Victorias used by the department are safe.

But Kloss said the investigation done at the request of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirms what the department has thought since early on: The main reason for the explosion was a rear-end collision resulting from a Cadillac hitting the Ford at 95 to 102 miles per hour.

The department reported the explosion to the safety administration, hoping the agency would provide some guidance on whether it should continue to use Crown Victorias. But to date, the agency has not done so, Kloss said.

When he read the report from Callspan, of Buffalo, about a month ago, Kloss was surprised it didn’t provide any guidance on that question.

When he asked Callspan about it, the center advised him its job is to give its findings to the agency and that the agency keeps that information on file in case any additional crashes involving that vehicle occurs again.

Kloss said he doesn’t know if he will ever hear an answer to the question from the federal agency.

For now, he believes the vehicles are safe and that the explosion was the result of high-speed impact, not a defect in the car’s design.

Since the accident, the department has installed fire-suppression shells over the gas tanks on their police cars.

The polymer shells release a cloud of fire-suppressant powder if the shield is pierced.

The fuel-sending unit is located on the part of the fuel tank closest to the front of the car. The fuel tank was estimated to be about three-fourths full, and the impact of the rear-end collision compressed the fuel enough to eject the sending unit, despite doing relatively little damage to the tank, Kloss said.

The report doesn’t say what type of spark or fire made contact with the fuel to cause the explosion. Less than one quart of gasoline remained in the tank at the time it was examined, the report said.

Kloss showed a reporter how the fire-suppression shields surround fuel-sending units on the department’s cruisers but do not actually cover them up. He said he believes that the suppression shields will put out any fires that might result from a similar sending unit ejection in the future.

“At that speed, bad things are going to happen,” Kloss said. “We don’t think it’s a problem with the vehicle.”

The Ohio State Highway Patrol released a reconstruction report on the accident this spring that estimated that the driver of the 1995 Cadillac, Adrien Foutz, was driving between 95 and 102 miles per hour at impact.

Callspan said Linert’s 2005 cruiser was traveling at around 30 miles per hour when the crash occurred on North Meridian Road near Interstate 680.

Both drivers were wearing safety belts.

Foutz, 22, of Girard, was charged with aggravated vehicular assault and awaits a trial sometime after June 20 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Her blood-alcohol level was recorded at 0.279, more than three times the legal limit of .08.

Linert, 48, was burned over 40 percent of his body — on his face, head, arms, hands and legs — and remains off work as he recovers at home.

runyan@vindy.com