ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) - A judge entered a not-guilty plea and ordered restrictions Monday for a suspended central Indiana police officer charged with causing a crash that killed a man and injured his pregnant wife.
Madison Circuit Judge David Happe ordered Edgewood Officer James Foutch to abstain from driving and alcohol while appearing weekly for drug tests and to report any drugs prescribed by a doctor.
Authorities say the 41-year-old Foutch was off duty and under the influence of an anti-anxiety drug and a painkiller when his SUV going 92 mph plowed into the rear of a car and sent it into a utility pole along Indiana 32 west of Anderson. The April 6 crash killed Jesse Sperry, 23, of Noblesville and injured his wife, Rebecca Sperry, 22, as they drove home from church. Rebecca Sperry gave birth to a daughter by emergency C-section that day at an Indianapolis hospital.
Happe set a Nov. 18 trial date for Foutch on felony charges of causing death while driving intoxicated, causing serious injury while driving intoxicated, reckless homicide, and criminal recklessness. The judge also appointed attorney Evan Broderick as Foutch’s public defender.
Foutch told reporters he had no comment as he left the courtroom.
Since the accident, Foutch, a 12-year police veteran, has been placed on administrative leave without pay by the Edgewood Town Council. Edgewood is about 30 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
Rebecca Sperry and her daughter, Autumn Marie, both spent a week in Indianapolis hospitals recovering after the crash. The two have since gone home.
Foutch was not injured in the crash, but his girlfriend, who riding with him, was taken to a local hospital to be treated for pain.
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