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Family of man run over by truck seeks justice

by Megan Baldino
Tuesday, November 3, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Gwen Field remembers her brother Horace as a generous person who loved his family.

"He had a big heart, he was always there for his nieces and nephews, his brothers and sisters, his parents, elders in the community," said Field.

That's what makes his tragic death all the more difficult for Field to accept.

Back on November 10, 2007 at 8:30 in the morning, 45-year old Horace Field was hit by a semi at the intersection of A Street and 6th Avenue and dragged 11 blocks to his death before the driver of the truck even realized what had happened.

Now two attorneys, Ken Roosa and Mike Schneider, have filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of his family.

"He went 11 blocks, and he would've kept on going except a passing motorist flagged him down honking and waving because Mr. Field's body was wrapped around his axle," said Roosa.

Roosa says the driver, Stephen Haines of RL Trucking, was never cited in the accident.

He and Schneider say he should've been.

"We are bringing it because it's not right that a member of the community gets swept off of a perfectly good street corner, killed and that fact simply disregarded," said Schneider.

Originally from Noorvik, Field was a veteran living in Anchorage, sometimes on the streets or at shelters, sometimes staying with family.

"The last three days of his life he lived with me, " said his sister Gwen.

She says her brother spent years in the military, but in the mid 1990's suffered a severe brain injury during training. After that he struggled to support himself, and as Roosa puts it, seemed to lose his place in society.

"Mr. Field was a disabled veteran who was homeless due to circumstances beyond his control and it was because of the traumatic brain injury he suffered while in the Marine Corps that he was no longer able to support himself, " said Roosa.

The two attorneys will be using several pieces of rare evidence: video of the entire tragedy taken by surveillance cameras that sit on the FBI Building at the intersection of A and 6th.

"How many cases have you known where there is a traffic accident resulting in death where that was recorded on video," asked Roosa.

In the lawsuit, Roosa and Schneider point to several things Haines did wrong and should have been cited for, but Police have a very different take.

Detective Rick Steiding says the video shows Horace Field got in the way of the truck.

"He gets up to the corner, for whatever reason, we feel he stepped off into the path of the truck," said Steiding.

"In one of the frames you can actually see how he approaches the intersection and the truck is about two-thirds of the way through its turn and there is one frame where he's at the edge of the curb and his foot is up in the air taking a step and the next frame he's gone.

But Roosa and Schneider say an attentive driver would have noticed legs sticking out from the back of the trucks rear wheels.

They say at a minimum Haines should have been charged with making an illegal right turn or failing to render aid.

"The only thing that one can look at to explain that is that poor Mr. Field was a member of a segment of our society which is over-represented in unexplained deaths and under-represented in protection by the criminal justice society: He was an Alaska Native," said Roosa.

Toxicology reports show Haines was sober, but according to police Fields' blood alcohol was .328

Ken Roosa says it's irrelevant, "I guarantee you if it was a hung-over college student who was stumbling downtown to get a cup of coffee at 8:30 in the morning who got killed by Mr. Haines, there would've been hell to pay."

Steiding says that's completely false, "We investigate all cases the same way. We investigate every one as a murder case and we rule it out from there. Race never comes into anything, sex, race, none of it is an issue."

In fact, police were so sure the driver did nothing wrong that they never forwarded the case file to the DA's office.

"In cases such as this where we can't find any fault by a so-called suspect, it's done over the phone telephonically," said Steiding.

For Gwen Field that's not good enough, "We think it's America and justice for all. Everybody deserves justice, homeless or not."

The Evidence

In interviews done by the APD the day of the accident, it was clear Stephen Haines had no idea what he had done as he turned eastbound onto 6th Avenue from A Street.

Just after telling police he saw Horace Field on the sidewalk, he says, "So when I went up there and made the right turn, I guess he kept on...I don't know what happened," said Haines.

In the taped interview he goes on to say he heard something but wasn't sure what it was, "I heard a thump and I thought I hit...I thought I did what I didn't want to which is curb my tire. I didn't think it would be, I didn't think I'd hit somebody, " Haines told the officer.

Roosa and Schneider say the evidence will prove Haines was at fault.

"He had the pedestrian right of way and he had, we believe, from our timing of the lights, he had the right of way," Roosa said.

They also contend Haines hit the curb, but police say their investigation never found evidence of that.

"We also looked at the snow on that was on the ground that day and if you look at the snow before the truck enters the frame and after the truck makes its turn, that snow is completely undisturbed, " said Detective Steiding.

Roosa says tire tracks wouldn't have appeared with the angle of the truck.

He and Schneider point to a bent sign as proof the truck went over the curb.

"He had to go up on the curb to hit the sign, " said Roosa.

Detective Steiding says while his investigation found something hit the sign, they didn't conclude it was Haines' truck.

"The height difference there was off, it wouldn't have been that sign and... had the truck ridden up on the curb to strike that sign and where it would've cut across the corner (of the sidewalk) it would've left a clear indication in the snow and there was no indication," said Steiding.

Mike Schneider says it would be hard to explain it any other way, "It's just kind of hard to believe that scratch came out of the clear blue sky. Did someone come up with a pen knife and go scratch? Unlikely."

Then there is the toxicology report on Field. Police say his blood alcohol level that night was .328.

Could he have stumbled?

Schneider says it shouldn't make any difference-- Field had his challenges.

He says it's the driver's behavior that should be getting scrutinized.

"That kind of driving conduct needlessly endangers all of us, the entire community," he said.

According to police nothing Haines did that day, including make the turn from the center lane, was criminal.

"Unless we can prove recklessness, which is a very high degree, we can't charge him with any other crimes," said Steiding.

But if police can't, Roosa and Schneider say a jury can.

They're hopeful a civil lawsuit will bring justice to Fields' family.

Contact Megan Baldino at mbaldino@ktuu.com