Former Wetumpka Police Officer Andrew Bass was convicted of criminally negligent homicide after crashing into 52-year-old Elaine Merritt while responding to a call at high speed without using his emergency lights or siren.
The fatal crash happened on October 22, 2016, on Highway 231 in Wetumpka, Alabama. Bass was on duty and responding to a service call involving a reported drunk driver at a nearby gas station when his police cruiser struck Merritt’s Honda Pilot.
According to WSFA trial coverage, prosecutors said Merritt was in the median attempting to merge into northbound traffic on Highway 231 when Bass came down the median and violently crashed into her vehicle.
Prosecutors told jurors that Bass was traveling about 96 miles per hour three seconds before the crash, and that he was not running the cruiser’s lights and siren. WSFA reported that state law allows emergency vehicles to exceed speed limits only under specific conditions, including use of lights and siren, and still requires officers to drive with due regard for the safety of others.
The impact caused Merritt’s Honda Pilot to go airborne and land several yards down the highway. She had to be cut out of the vehicle and was pronounced dead shortly afterward.
Elaine’s husband, Byron Merritt, later told WSFA that his wife had gone to urgent care in Wetumpka that afternoon but did not make it in time to be seen by a doctor. She was trying to merge back onto Highway 231 when Bass struck her.
Byron Merritt described the crash as senseless and said Elaine had been his whole life. He said the loss was so overwhelming that he eventually moved away from their home because he could not continue living there without her.
Bass was not initially charged. In July 2017, however, a grand jury indicted him for manslaughter in connection with Merritt’s death.
At trial, prosecutors argued that Bass’s speed and failure to use emergency lights or siren showed reckless disregard for public safety. Defense attorney Kenny James argued the crash was a tragedy, not a crime, and said Bass had been trying to reach a suspected drunk driver before that person could hurt someone else.
On September 20, 2018, an Elmore County jury rejected the manslaughter charge but found Bass guilty of criminally negligent homicide, a misdemeanor. WSFA reported that jurors deliberated for about three hours before returning the guilty verdict.
On October 11, 2018, Judge Sibley Reynolds sentenced Bass to one year in the custody of the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office. WSFA reported that he was also ordered to pay $50 to the Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund.
The criminal outcome was limited to a misdemeanor conviction, but the facts remain stark: Elaine Merritt was trying to merge onto Highway 231 when an on-duty Wetumpka police officer drove down the median at highway speed without lights or siren and killed her.
