Cop Drives Twice Legal Limit, Kills Man, Covers It Up And Is NOT Charged-He's In With The Prosecutor

 Policeman Jakob Streyle was traveling at roughly twice the regulation when he crashed into an elderly man's SUV at an intersection in July of 2019.

Steven Gene Santini, 72, was killed within the crash, and he was ultimately blamed for the incident also - despite clear and overwhelming evidence against the officer.

Now, after the state did not hold officer Streyle accountable, the taxpayers were held liable instead - to the tune of $1.8 million.

According to court documents, Santini's wife, the town of Fairmont, and therefore the two officers involved within the crash reached a $1.8 million settlement.

As TFTP reported at the time, officer Streyle insisted that Santini skilled the stop sign no end and was eventually ready to gather a minimum of one witness who would confirm his side of the story, but within the lawsuit, Santini's wife says that police didn't take statements from two people that were traveling directly behind him.

The police report claims that "Multiple witnesses" saw Santini undergo the stop sign, but just one witness's testimony was listed.

The claims of the witness cited within the police report are disputed by video evidence and other witnesses at the scene, but their testimony was never taken and therefore the video was never considered as evidence.

"When our officers investigate an accident, that's all we do, is investigate it," Marion County Sheriff Jimmy Riffle said in April.

"We don't draw conclusions. We just write down what our investigation has revealed. Any criminal charges or fault or things of that nature are assigned, usually, through the prosecutor's office. Fault and amounts of fault are usually determined through a civil process."

The did draw conclusions and what they did was hardly an investigation, especially considering the very fact that the video and testimonies were never entered as evidence.

Due to the disputed testimony of the only witness, officer Streyle has been ready to avoid any consequences for his reckless behavior.

It may have helped that Streyle seems to possess a friendship with Marion County prosecutor Jeff Freeman, who was ultimately liable for deciding whether or not Streyle would face criminal charges.

In a letter absolving Streyle of any charges, Freeman pointed to the disputed witness testimony and also suggested that emergency vehicles are allowed to interrupt certain traffic laws.

On the day that the crash happened, Fairmont police posted an update on their Facebook page, reporting that a police truck crashed into a person who ran a stop sign, but also said that the truck "Was not being operated at an in-depth rate of speed."

Eight months later, the Santini family learned that this claim was a lie when their insurance firm hired an independent crash reconstructionist, who determined that Streyle was driving a minimum of 73 mph when the crash happened.

The family's lawyer Tony O'Dell believes that the local department intentionally kept this information from the family and therefore the public.

"The family was led to believe that the Fairmont policeman was driving the regulation. that's very troubling that the local department allowed this family to travel for months not knowing what actually happened to their husband and pop," O'Dell said, consistent with the Charlestown Gazette.

Freeman sought and won reelection in November, and unsurprisingly, he was endorsed by officer Streyle.

Style comes from an enforcement family, and his brother was hired just a couple of months after the crash.

Freeman has said that he appreciates the support he has gotten from the Streyle family but denies any sort of personal relationships which will have impacted his decision within the case.

"They're all involved in enforcement, so anytime you get that as a prosecutor - that sort of support, certainly it means an excellent deal, but we do not have a private relationship between myself and any of the Streyle family," Freeman said,.

After being accused of giving Streyle special privileges, Freeman took to Facebook to travel on the defensive and claimed people that made such claims were "Cowards and trolls." He was subsequently demolished within the comments.

Sadly, as TFTP exclusively reported last year, this type of thing happens all the time.

In September 2015, on a rainy Saturday night, Georgia trooper Anthony Scott was flexing his above the law privilege and driving at dangerously high speeds for no reason.

For four years, Kylie's family fought for justice for his or her daughter.

Thanks to a corrupt system, not only have this cop avoided any and every one accountability, but he's been rewarded within the sort of two elected positions.

As TFTP reported at the time, Scott was elected to the council only three months after killing young Kylie and Isabella.