Louis Freeh’s Curious Car Accident

Recently, we reported on an Aug. 25 one-car crash involving the long-time former FBI director, Louis Freeh. Considering Freeh’s prominence and tenure in the national security apparatus, the incident has received surprisingly little media attention and virtually no serious scrutiny.

But we think that journalistic rigor warrants a close look at misfortune befalling people in sensitive positions, even when there is a reasonable possibility that there is nothing more to learn. You can read our first article here.

Now, we’d like to update you on two key points, and then on some other curiosities.

[amazon asin=0425034933&template=*lrc ad (left)]First: local Vermont media are reporting that, just prior to his crash along a relatively straight and flat portion of a rural stretch of Vermont Highway 12, Freeh, 64, nearly took out three motorists, whose evasive actions saved themselves.

Second: a still unidentified FBI agent quickly materialized at the scene of the crash.

Freeh Wheeling[amazon asin=0812979230&template=*lrc ad (right)]

Vermont’s largest newspaper, the Burlington Free Press, provided the following coverage, citing one of the drivers whose quick action saved their lives:

The driver, Van Coleman, gave a written statement to a Windsor County deputy sheriff, who was the first police officer on the scene of the Aug. 25 crash of Freeh’s vehicle. Deputy Sheriff Justin Hoyt said he gave the eyewitness report to state police.

[amazon asin=0312989776&template=*lrc ad (left)]A motorcyclist and two cars needed to swerve into the left lane when Freeh’s vehicle crossed the center line on Vermont 12 in Barnard and headed at the trio at a high rate of speed, Coleman told the Burlington Free Press.

Freeh “was doing about 60 to 65 miles per hour and was on the left side of the road,” Coleman said. The speed limit was 50 mph.

Coleman said the northbound motorcyclist, who was first in line, moved to the left to avoid the SUV coming in the wrong lane. Another car also swerved left before Coleman followed suit in his Honda, he said.[amazon asin=B007V91318&template=*lrc ad (right)]

None of this information about Freeh’s behavior has been provided to the public by the government—so we have the local media to thank for its diligence.

The Free Press provides claims by various Vermont officials that they themselves did not have the information to release.

State police were criticized for trying to keep the crash under wraps for 24 hours. A video crew for Fox44/ABC 22 in Colchester and a photographer from a local weekly newspaper in Woodstock were at the scene, but they were told a news release would be issued the following day.

Instead, FBI sources in Washington told NBC News that Freeh had been in a Vermont crash. The Vermont State Police issued a news release more than eight hours after the wreck and only after multiple calls by local and national media.

Read the rest of the article