Party crashers — truck with judicial candidate, Republican leaders barrels into attorney’s office » Clark County

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November 3, 2008

Party crashers — truck with judicial candidate, Republican leaders barrels into attorney’s office

Judge Navarro called accident unintentional

By MATT THACKER The News and Tribune Mon Nov 03, 2008, 03:59 PM EST

A Ford F-150 pick-up truck occupied by Clark County Circuit Court Judge Abe Navarro and Republican Party Chairman Dave Buskill crashed into an attorney’s office late Sunday night in Jeffersonville.

Navarro’s bailiff, Jeremy Snelling, was driving the truck at about 11:47 p.m. when he passed out, causing the truck to go through a brick wall at 432 E. Court Ave., according to people in the truck. Two people, including Snelling, were taken to Clark Memorial Hospital with minor injuries. No one else was seriously injured.

The law office is owned by attorneys Greg Reed and Jack Vissing.

Vissing represented Navarro’s opponent in Tuesday's election, Dan Moore, before the Indiana Election Commission. Navarro tried to have Moore’s name removed from the ballot, claiming filing errors. Vissing then requested to have Navarro removed. The Election Commission ruled that both candidates would remain on the ballot.

“I don’t think the campaign’s going very well, but I don’t think he was being a Kamikaze,” Vissing said.

Navarro said the accident was the scariest experience of his life. He was still very sore Monday afternoon.

“It was surreal in a bad way,” Navarro said. “It was just absolutely freakish.”

He called it “absolutely absurd” to suggest that they intentionally hit Vissing’s building or that they had been drinking, after hearing Vissing’s comments that the accident might not look good for Navarro’s campaign.

“How do you politicize a car wreck?” Navarro said. “Someone could have died.”

Officers with the Jeffersonville Police Department gave Snelling a breathalyzer test, which showed no alcohol in his system. JPD said there will likely be no further investigation.

Navarro said they had been passing out campaign fliers for Tuesday’s election for Circuit Court judge. According to the police report, there were seven people riding in the truck. Three of them were in the bed of the truck.

Snelling’s father, Councilman Monty Snelling, said his son “got banged up pretty good.”

He said the doctor told him his son had a nerve condition and had been sick, causing him to black out. Navarro said Snelling passed out once before while talking to him.

Monty Snelling harshly rebuked people who have suggested the younger Snelling was drinking alcohol or that they had even intentionally hit the building.

“For someone to try to use something like this for political reasons, that is why Clark County politics has such a bad name,” the elder Snelling said, adding that his son has never had a drink of alcohol in his life.

The building damaged in the accident has been around since 1868 and was formerly a grocery store, Vissing said. He worried about the integrity of the building because it has no structural steel holding it up. The crash also caused damage to the router, leaving the entire law office without Internet access. He said the first priority would be to make sure the building is safe.

“I want my building put back, and I don’t want any nonsense,” Vissing said. “How far I push this will probably depend on how helpful they are.”

He did not know how long it would take to repair the building or how much the damage would cost. The police report estimated the damage to be between $5,000 and $10,000.