Richard Van Rossem's July 26 car accident could have been much more serious, although he likens it to a scene from "Caddyshack."
The Superior School Board member was involved in a one-car crash on Crystal Beach Road near Forest Point Golf Course in Barnes. Van Rossem, who had been drinking, sustained neck injuries, and his 1986 Corvette was totaled. Nobody else was injured.
It occurred on a clear day after a recreational golf outing with Superior School District administrators.
Van Rossem had set his golf bag next to the trailer hitch of another vehicle, which was transporting his clubs. The driver left, thinking the bag was fully in the vehicle. Instead, the shoulder harness had fallen onto the trailer hitch, and Van Rossem's bag -- full of clubs and several golf balls -- was dragging behind. Van Rossem's car was parked in a sandy area of the lot, and he had to maneuver around several cars to get out. Sand became embedded in his treads, he said.
Van Rossem wanted to catch the truck before it reached County Road Y, fearing a club would bounce out of the bag and possibly penetrate the windshield of another vehicle.
ADVERTISEMENT
"So I stepped on the gas," he said. "I stepped on it, and that was it."
In the space of about one-third of a block, Van Rossem said his car went left, right, left and then hit a tree.
"I told the people there ... I wasn't trying to hotdog," adding that sand stuck in his wheel treads made it too slippery for his car to handle the curve, because Corvettes -- equipped with wide tires -- slide easily.
According to Douglas County Sheriff's Department accident report, Van Rossem accelerated as he exited the parking lot and lost control after failing to negotiate a curve. He hit a tree, spun around twice and stopped in a ditch. The rear tires of the vehicle and loose gravel were named as factors.
Van Rossem wasn't tested for alcohol use or issued a ticket.
"I had been drinking, but I wasn't drunk," he said, estimating he had about six beers during a five-hour period.
Douglas County Sheriff Tom Dalbec said Deputy Steven Long arrived at the scene after Van Rossem was taken away by a Gordon ambulance.
"He had no indication at the accident scene that there was any alcohol involved," he said about Long, adding there were no open beer cans, and no one at the scene said Van Rossem had been drinking.
ADVERTISEMENT
State policy dictates blood/alcohol levels be tested when the accident victim dies or is severely injured, said Chief Deputy Charlie Law, and the department tests drivers who show signs of alcohol use.
"But they're not going to wait until we get there if someone is injured," he said. "So we've got to kind of go with what's told to us at the scene."
Long followed policy, Law said.
"We're getting calls like we're trying to cover something up," he said. "I'm kind of tired of it."
Hospital policy dictates that authorities are never called to perform blood/alcohol tests once a patient has been brought in, said Beth Johnson, the spokeswoman for St. Mary's Medical Center, where Van Rossem was taken.
"There would be no legal basis for us to do that," she said. "Our patients come to us for care and they trust us and protecting their confidentiality is our top priority ..."
Van Rossem's neck was broken in two places, but the damage won't be long-term, he said.
As for the runaway clubs, the truck dragging them eventually was flagged down by another vehicle.
ADVERTISEMENT
Jana Hollingsworth covers education. E-mail jhollingsworth@superiortelegram.com or call (715) 394-4421, ext. 137.
