It all started on July 19, 1998 shortly after 4:00 p.m. when a 3rd grade teacher named Richele Holdaway (the first person I hold responsible) was delivering a snowcone machine that was to big to fit in her car trunk. She was afraid the trunk lid was going to break the machine so she placed her eight-year-old daughter in the trunk to hold the trunk lid down. I'm not sure about other parents but I don't let my children ride in the back of my truck let alone in the trunk of a car.

According to the police report an off duty campus police officer claims that he was following Richele Holdaway for about a mile, while observing a young child in the trunk of her car. I assume that after following her for about a mile it occurred to him that this could be a dangerous situation. He did nothing to try and stop her instead he used his handheld radio to contact an on duty officer.

As the off duty campus police officer was talking to another officer informing him of the situation and his whereabouts another police officer named Cort Childs overheard the conversation and immediately proceeded toward the location. Yes, Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Cort Childs is the second person and the one who is primarily responsible for Michael's death.

The police report states that Cort Childs informed the other officers that he was on 600 South, which is four blocks south of where the suspect was. He told the officers that he was closest so he would try to catch up to the suspect and make a stop. Just as Cort Childs was approaching 500 South he had to slow down because of a car in his path. As Cort Childs followed this car for a few brief seconds the driver began to slow down, not because there was a Highway Patrolman behind her but because she noticed a young boy on a bicycle.

According to her statement she was aware that there was a School Crosswalk/Intersection coming up and had a feeling that Michael was going to cross there, so she slowed down to allow him to cross. I believe at this point Cort Childs became irate because he had to slow down and instead of taking a half a second to stop and think, that there may be a reason why this woman was slowing down, he accelerated entered into the turning lane and proceeded to pass.

The intersection that Michael was crossing in is the only marked crosswalk or over a mile and everyone in Price knows that this crosswalk/intersection is the only place where people especially children can safely cross the road, to get to school or to the neighborhood convenient store.

I believe that Cort Childs didn't care or think about the heavily used crosswalk coming up because he was only concerned about getting around the car in front of him so he could continue to pursue Richele Holdaway's vehicle. Here is a portion of Cort Childs statement "I was on South Carbon Ave at 600 South I asked him (campus officer) his exact location he said 200 South. Because I was the closest unit I activated my emergency lights increased speed and entered the center lane. I could see the units about two blocks North of me. A young boy riding a bicycle entered South Carbon Ave just south of 500 South and without looking swerved across toward Breeze (convenient store). I swerved to avoid and struck the bicycle and boy with the right front of my vehicle. Estimated speed 40 possibly 45 at most."

Something to think about. There are NO dispatch records of a call being made by the Campus Officer, nor are there any records of the conversation between the City Police, Campus Officer and Cort Childs. The reason given as to why there wasn't, is because they ALL used channel 3 which is the ONLY channel that is NOT recorded by dispatch. Now isn't that convenient?

The Waiting Game

The first six months was the toughest so far. The State requires an Attorney to go through so much redtape before they are allowed to file a lawsuit. During the six months of playing the States waiting game we learned that Cort Childs tested positive for several prescription drugs. I'm not talking antibiotics, he tested positive for pain killers and muscle relaxers. Medication that clearly states DO NOT OPERATE A MOTOR VEHICLE. My initial thought was YEAH now the City Attorney might file criminal charges against him. Of course he didn't. In December of 1998 the lawsuit was filed, finally I thought this is going to be over with soon WRONG AGAIN.

In February 1999 the States Attorney threatened that he was filing a motion to dismiss this case on the grounds that Cort Childs did not break any laws while pursuing Richele Holdaway's vehicle. They also placed a protective order on Cort Childs medical records stating they are not relevant to this case. Now we had to wait for a Judge to rule on these two issues.

From March until June nothing changed, we were still waiting for the Judge to make a decision on the medical records. Then on June 17, 1999 the day of Michael's birthday I was informed that the Judge had removed himself from this case, stating he couldn't preside over it because he was neighbors with Cort Childs. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It took this Judge three months to realize he was neighbors with Cort Childs.

One week later on June 25 my Attorney informed me that there was a new Judge assigned and that he ruled Cort Childs medical records are relevant to this case.

Because the State is still threatening to file a motion to dismiss the case my Attorney cannot reveal to me what is in Cort Child's medical records. Although he did say that the information in his records makes our case even stronger.

On October 5, 1999 my Attorney put together all the information he has obtained and turned it over to the State's Attorney along with a letter stating he had 20 days to settle this case or we were taking it to trail.

The Day of Depositions

The first witness was the women who had stopped for Michael to cross the road. She still claims that Cort Childs DID NOT have his lights on while he was behind her. She also testified that Cort Childs in no way tried to help Michael, in fact he didn't even get out of his car until another officer had arrived. My heart really goes out to this women, no person should have to ever see or experience what this women has.

RICHELLE HOLDAWAYS deposition, to put it lightly pissed me off. In my opinion this women dont care about anyone's safety including her children. She walked in with a smile from ear to ear which immediately pissed me off. When she was asked what the officer who pulled her over three hours after the accident said to her, she stated that he informed her there was an accident and a kid was killed. She acted like it was no big deal. She was asked why she put her child in the trunk of her car, she responded because she was delivering a snowcone machine which was to big to shut the trunk lid and the lid kept hitting the machine and she was afraid it was going to get broke. Her last unasked comment stunned everyone. She said she had spoken to someone(lawyer?) and they said she should not worry about anything because "its not illegal to put your child in the trunk of a car". I dont know about anyone else but it really scares the hell out of me knowing she is a third grade teacher.

Now for the Police Officer who investigated this accident. He claimed he has NO experience in accident recreation. He was then asked how he determine how fast Cort Childs was going. His response was "I took his word for it". When he was asked if he was aware there was a toxicology report done, he said YES. When he was asked if he knew the results, he said NO. He was asked why the investigating officer did NOT follow up on a toxicology report. He didn't have an answer other than, I was just there to investigate the accident and that his superiors would handle the rest. He then was asked if it had been anyone other than a cop would he have followed up on a toxicology report. He said YES.

The only other deposition that even shed any light on this case was that of Cort Childs superior Don Kelley. We couldn't stay in the room during his whole deposition because he was going to be asked about Cort Childs drug use and it is still confidential information until the State decides if they are going to file a motion to dismiss. There is a few statements from Don Kelley that I think everyone should know. He was asked why Price City Police Department did the investigation. He responded because the accident happened within City limits and because they couldn't investigate an accident one of their officers was involved in. He then was asked why did you send one of your officers there to do an investigation. Without thinking he responded "To Protect Our". He caught himself and changed his answer. After being asked twice "Protect Your What" he said "Protect Our Issues". I guess you could also say he meant, to protect their ass.

The Highway Patrol claim their independant investigation in NO way had any effect or influence in the investigation done by the Price City PD. If that is true why did the Highway Patrol's report end up in Price City Police Departments file?

CORT CHILDS DEPOSITION I have been waiting a long time for this day, the day I would finally get the chance to face the man who killed my son. Deep down I was hoping everyone who said this man was heartless and uncompassionate was wrong, but they weren't. He never spoke one word to us nor did he ever make eye contact with us.

His deposition started off with my Attorney asking him what drugs he was currently taking. Not surprising he is still taking the same drugs he was on when he killed Michael.

We were told by the State's Attorney that Cort was suffering from CHF and his Doctor said he was in no condition to travel to Price for depositions. During his deposition we found out that this was a LIE. Cort admitted he had never been diagnosed or treated for CHF by a Cardiologist.

He is no longer employeed as a Trooper for the Utah Highway Patrol. We found out during the hearings that he wasn't placed on disability leave because he was suffering from an illness like originally stated. From what I have heard he was fired because he was driving recklessly up a canyon road and almost hit a fellow officer, six months after he killed Michael. The State says it was because of his drug impairement. Please read below under Hearings to see how the State now says he was never impaired.

The worse part of his deposition is when he said he saw Michael prior to hitting him. He claims that WHILE still in the act of passing the women who stopped for Michael to cross. He seen Michael on the road going north and he was about 1-2 feet from the curb then he suddenly darted out into the road. He stated when he first seen Michael he immediately hit his brakes and swerved to the left side of the road. This is so hard to believe because the video shows him 1-2 car lengths in front of the women when he swerved. So there is ONE lie.

Wouldn't this be considered negligant homicide? He claimed he seen Michael several seconds before hitting him and yet didn't immediately use caution like hitting his brakes or turn on his siren. Most people I know including myself immediately place their foot on the brake pedal when they see children on or near a road/crosswalk. But not Cort, according to his statement and eye witnesses he would have had to accelerated when he seen Michael on the road.

He was asked what lights if any did he activate. He claimed he turned on his wigwags and his red and blues that flash above the rearview mirror and back window. He then was asked how many lights his car is equipped with. He said there are three options in this car, one is to turn on the wig wags, one that turns on the red and blues above the rearview mirror and the back window, then there is a third that turns on only the red and blues in the back window. He was then asked which order do they go, he said 'I dont remember'. If that is the case then how can he be so certain what lights he activated?

Because his drug issue was still confidential we had to leave while our Attorney questioned him about it.

The Hearings

I want to make sure this information is accurate so I am going to wait until I have the transcripts of all the hearings before I do a update. I have wrote a brief update for those who are following this case.

Before the pretrail hearing on Sept. 26th the State decided they wanted to do depositions on me and my husband. I guess this was the State's way of seeing just how upset they can make us in a single day.

From the minute we walked into the courtroom I knew we were in trouble. Judge Halladay didn't even have a clue as to why we were there. The State was asking that he dismiss our Toxicologist from testify on the grounds he wasn't qualified to determine if Cort was impaired or not. They were also asking the Judge to dismiss our case all together on the grounds Cort Childs had immunity under Utah Law.

The Judge had made up his mind to dismiss our case prior to even hearing any arguments. I will give proof of this when I get the transcripts. Because the State filed their motion to have our Toxicologist dismissed two days prior to the hearing the Judge postponed the pretrail hearing to Oct. 2, 2000.

On Oct. 2, 2000 Judge Halliday dismissed our case granting Cortland Childs immunity on the grounds he turned his emergency lights on approximately 1-2 seconds prior to hitting Michael. .

I will write more on his decision and what happen after I went public with this story.

On November 20, 2000 we went back into the courtroom on an appeal because the Judge didn't rule on Negligant Supervison claim and because of new evidence. I knew the outcome was not going to be any different then the first time we were there.

The Judge refused to rule that day. Instead he waited until January 2001 when he again ruled Cort Childs had immunity.

Now the long appeal process begins.

This is a interview done by KSL News following the Judges decision KSL Interview

Following the interview, Reporter John Hollenhorst continued to research this story this is introduction to his report.

He was sworn to serve and protect, but was this Utah officer putting innocent lives in danger?

"He couldn't function"

Doctors questioned his driving ability.

"He used to have handfulls of pills and take them all at once"

But the Patrol let him keep driving.

"We could have been killed because of his actions."

Then finally, something happened that changed everything.

"They should've done everything they could've done to keep him off the streets."

Should somebody have stopped him?

How can police protect you, if "The Danger's Within"?

Read Entire Investigated Report

This link will take you to a few of the newspaper articles that were written following the accident. Newspaper Articles

The Appeal Process

January 31, 2001 an appeal was filed with the Utah Supreme Court. I never realized just how long it takes and the process an attorney goes through to appeal a case in the Supreme Court.

I thought the waiting game was bad before... This was without a doubt alot harder to get through. After waiting for a year our case was argued in front of the Supreme Court on November 6, 2002... That was one of the most interesting things I have ever attended. When we left the courtroom I didn't know what to feel. The Judges dont make a decision at that time. Its a feeling like your left hanging the Judge's give no indication as to how they will rule. You just have to wait and hope for the best.

On May 6, 2003 the Supreme Court came back with their opinion. I drove to Salt Lake to meet with my Attorney because I didn't have a clue how to read their decision. When I got there the paralegal on the case came in and asked me if I heard.. Of course I hadn't I was driving up there when the opinion was posted. She looked at me and said read my body language. I was so stunned and cried tears of joy. The Supreme Court ruled 3-2. This was the first time I have felt a victory in this case.

Supreme Court Opinion

A Victory

July 21, 2003 the five year anniversary of Michael's death my Attorney informed me that the State will take responsibilty for Michael's death. This case was settled out of court.

I just want to say one final thing. If anyone is in a similar situation DONT ever give up even when it looks like you cant win.

I cant end this page until I thank two people who have worked so hard on this case. The first person is my Attorney Warren Driggs who works for the law firm of Robert J. Debry. Warren thank you so much for taking this case and we appreciate all the effort you have put into seeing that the responsible people pay for what they have done. The second person is Warren's Paralegal Linda St. Dennis. Linda is the most compassionate and friendliest person I have ever met. Linda, Thank You for all the hard work you have put into this case and for being there to answer all my questions while reassuring me everything is going to work out.