Sept. 29--Anchorage Police Chief Mark Mew says he has been reprimanded by a city official but not given a ticket for a two-vehicle collision that a police report blames on the chief's inattention at the wheel.
Mew said he was manipulating his iPhone, clearing an alert message or messages from his screen, before he rear-ended another vehicle at an East Anchorage intersection.
"It bings every 15 minutes, drives me nuts," Mew said of the phone.
The collision, described by a police spokesman as a "bumper cruncher," took place at 8:25 a.m. Sept. 20 as the chief waited at a light. With his attention diverted by the device, Mew took his foot off the brake before the light turned green and struck the vehicle in front him.
Anchorage police officers, Mew's subordinates at the department, were tasked with investigating the accident. A 2008 state law made it a criminal misdemeanor to use personal devices with screens while driving, except under certain circumstances.
Mew has not been charged or cited in the collision.
"In this case, I don't think we're anywhere close to something that is texting while driving," said traffic unit supervisor Sgt. Justin Doll. The law makes an exemption for screens used in emergency vehicles such as the chief's unmarked police SUV, Doll said.
No injuries were reported at the time of the collision, according to a police accident report. However, the driver of the second vehicle, Christopher Mathis of Anchorage, later went to the hospital complaining of neck and back pain, the report says.
Police estimated damage to Mathis' Dodge SUV and the police vehicle at more than $500 each, the report says. Photos of the two vehicles showed little visible damage.
Still, the incident raises questions about just what Alaskans are allowed to do with their smart phones while driving -- no texting, but can you open or close messages? -- and if the same rules apply to police.
ACCIDENT REPORT
Here's what happened in the accident involving Mew, according to a phone interview with the police chief and the accident report:
Mew's GMC Yukon idled behind a 2001 Dodge driven by Mathis as the two southbound vehicles waited at the Boniface Parkway and DeBarr Road intersection.
Mew's phone made a noise, alerting him that he had a meeting about the upcoming police academy, he said. He moved to clear the alert.
"You've got to take your phone out, you've got to rub your thumb on it, you've got to boot up the little thing and click 'off,' or whatever you do," Mew said. "And I was doing that and I saw out of the corner of my eye the light change."
Mew eased the GMC forward, he said. "Which I shouldn't have done, because the light hadn't changed. It was just the green arrow."
The police chief hit the brakes, but not before bumping the car in front of him, he said.
During the traffic investigation, police pulled information from the SUV's event data recorder. The device acts like a "black box" on an airplane, recording collision information that can later help investigators determine what happened. But the collision was so slight that the crash-detection hardware didn't record it, said collision investigator Mike Busey.
A subsequent accident report said Mathis was wearing his seat belt. The report did not say whether Mew was wearing a seat belt. The police chief said in an interview that he was.
Mathis told police he went to the hospital, where he was told his neck and back were "inflamed," according to the accident report. "Mathis was not sure if it was a new injury or an aggravation of an old injury he sustained in a similar collision awhile back," the report said.
COMMON SANCTION
Mew said he was issued a verbal reprimand, as opposed to a more serious written reprimand or unpaid leave, by the city manager following the collision. That's common for police involved in their first avoidable accident while on the job, he said.
"I got the same sanction as I hand out to patrol officers on an occasional basis," he said.
Mathis could not be reached for comment.
A proposal to bar drivers from using a hand-held cellphone behind the wheel failed in the Legislature earlier this year.
Meantime, interviews about Mew's collision revealed that law enforcement officials and politicians don't always agree on what precisely is allowed under the existing anti-texting law.
Troopers and Fairbanks police have arrested drivers for texting while driving, citing the 2008 provision. In those cases, the stakes are high, with each offense punishable by up to a $5,000 fine and one year in jail. It can escalate to a felony if injuries are involved.
But the statute lists several exceptions to the rules.
Talking on a cellphone is allowed. It's also OK to look at cellphones displaying caller identification information, or to look at a screen that is displaying maps, driving aids or dispatch information in emergency vehicles, the law says.
Rep. Max Gruenberg, an Anchorage Democrat, sponsored the law and said Mew's description of the collision sounds like a possible violation. Mew said he has not read the law.
Asked why police believe his phone use didn't fall under the anti-texting provision, Mew deferred questions to Doll, the traffic unit supervisor.
"Others would look at whatever I say and claim I have some kind of vested interest in the outcome," the chief said.
Doll talked about the exemption for emergency response vehicles under the screen-device law, but said that even in a civilian vehicle, what the chief described does not appear to be against the law.
"It sounds to me like the phone beeped and he picked it up and looked at it and put it back in his pocket," Doll said.
Asked if it's fair to ask Anchorage police officers, as opposed to another agency, to investigate an accident involving their chief, Mew said the police department has always handled investigations involving its own people.
"You've seen us prosecute officers. We have sent officers to jail. I mean, we do our jobs," he said.
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Copyright 2011 - Anchorage Daily News, Alaska
