Deputy Rick Hillard, who died when his patrol car crashed during a chase, suffered a
broken neck and crushed spinal cord, according to the pathologist who performed the
autopsy.Dr. Donald Jason
said his examination confirmed information that he had been given about the accident
— that Hillard’s patrol car had spun around 180 degrees and struck a tree going
backward. The impact snapped his head backward and crushed his spinal cord in the middle
of his neck, Jason said.
Given those injuries, Jason said
he does not think it would have made any difference if Hillard had been wearing his seat
belt or not.
The N.C. Highway Patrol has not
released its report on the accident, and investigators have not said whether Hillard was
wearing his seat belt.
“His injuries were not
frontal,” as is usual in most accidents, said Jason, who works at Wake Forest
University Baptist Medical Center. “He had no torn aorta, no chest wounds.”
Jason said Hillard also suffered a
bruise on his head and a broken back, but those injuries would not have been fatal.
Jason and Dr. Francis Slate, the
Davie County medical examiner who issued Hillard’s death certificate, also said they
were told Hillard was a diabetic who had had diabetic episodes recently. Both doctors took
blood tests from Hillard, which should show if the deputy was having any type of diabetic
episode at the time of the crash.
Jason said because of the nature
of the impact, a headrest might have protected Hillard’s neck, but he couldn’t
say for sure. Dr. Slate visited the accident scene on Becktown Road and said he’s not
sure if a head rest would have prevented Hillard’s injuries.
Sheriff’s officials said
Friday that the type of Crown Victoria that Rowan deputies drive has a headrest, but they
couldn’t say for sure that Hillard’s car had one.
“The appearance at the scene
was that he came off 601 South and made a right turn” onto Becktown Road, Slate said
Friday. “There’s a curve shortly after that, and he went off the road on the
right, corrected and then went off the road on the left. His car made a 180-degree turn,
and the back of the car hit the tree.
“Since the tree hit him from
behind, the seat belt would not have made any difference.”
If the impact was severe enough, a
head rest might not have helped either, Slate said.
Jason will forward his autopsy
report to Slate, and both men are depending on the N.C. Highway Patrol to determine how
fast Hillard was driving. |
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