Opinion ID: 2508462
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: State v. Roggenkamp

Text: Michael Roggenkamp was charged in King County Juvenile Court with one count of vehicular homicide and two counts of vehicular assault. The charges stemmed from an incident that occurred in May 2000 at a road intersection near Enumclaw. Then and there a vehicle driven by 16-year-old Roggenkamp struck a vehicle driven by JoAnn Carpenter. When the collision occurred, Roggenkamp was traveling in the wrong lane of traffic at more than twice the speed limit in an attempt to pass another vehicle. Carpenter and a passenger in her car, Andrew Strand, were both severely injured. Another passenger, Carpenter's son, Michael, died from injuries he received in the accident. The charges against Roggenkamp were premised on the in a reckless manner alternative of the vehicular homicide and vehicular assault statutes. [1] In finding Roggenkamp guilty, the trial court determined that driving or operating a vehicle in a reckless manner means to operat[e] a motor vehicle in a rash and heedless manner, indifferent to the consequences. State v. Roggenkamp, 115 Wash.App. 927, 935, 64 P.3d 92 (2003). Roggenkamp appealed his conviction to the Court of Appeals, Division One, which affirmed. Roggenkamp then sought review by this court, arguing that the trial court erred when it applied the rash and heedless manner, indifferent to the consequences language, and did not apply the willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property language that appears in the reckless driving statute, RCW 46.61.500(1). [2] He contended, alternatively, that a superseding event caused the incident that led to the charges against him and that, therefore, his convictions should be reversed and the charges dismissed. We granted Roggenkamp's petition for review.