Photo: Fredrick Zachary
A failure to appear warrant has been issued for a man who admitted he was drinking when he rear-ended a patrol car belonging to the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office early this year.
Fifty-six-year-old Fredrick Zachary of Midway was a no show in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday. Deputy Public Defender Sam Pasthing said it appeared Zachary was outside the state.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a Baxter County deputy was working a traffic stop on State Highway 177 West when the crash occurred.
The Arkansas State Police trooper who worked the accident between the deputy’s car and the vehicle driven by Zachary said the patrol car had its emergency lights activated, but the Midway man was reported to have made no attempt to move over or slow down as he approached the patrol unit.
According to the report made by the state trooper, Zachary rear-ended the patrol car with the front of his vehicle on the passenger side and continued traveling west for a short distance sideswiping the deputy’s unit.
The deputy, Jacob Zappa, was sitting in his patrol car when it was struck. He was taken to Baxter Regional Medical Center to be checked out. He was treated and released.
When the trooper interviewed Zachary, he is alleged to have said he knew what he had done and admitted he had been drinking. The trooper reported Zachary had a “very strong odor” of alcohol about his person. After being taken to the Baxter County Detention Center, Zachary was given a breath test which showed him to have well above the legal limit of alcohol in his system. He was said to have told the trooper he knew he should not have been driving.
In addition to charges stemming from the accident, the sheriff’s office has asked the court to make Zachary liable for the difference between what insurance paid the county for the patrol car and what it was actually worth. The figure comes to almost $3,500, according to a petition for restitution filed by Sheriff John Montgomery. The patrol unit was declared a “constructive total loss” by an insurance adjuster, according to the petition.
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