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Investigation Into Fatal Crash May Bring More Serious Charges For Driver

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By DAVID SOMMER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 20, 2007

HUDSON - A wreck on Kitten Trail that left one man dead and another in a coma with a broken neck this month may have been more than an accident.

Brian D. Haag, 27, of 9951 Loy St. in New Port Richey, is charged with three counts of leaving the scene of an accident involving injury or death. He may face more serious charges, however, if evidence backs up eyewitness accounts of the Oct. 3 incident, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

In a search warrant affidavit filed in court by Cpl. Kenneth Ratcliff, witnesses said Haag may have caused the wreck by instigating a road-rage encounter that included a high-speed chase.

Witness Martin Smith reportedly told the trooper he was following Haag's 2003 Chevrolet Silverado pickup north on Hicks Road on the evening of the crash.

Haag was driving faster than the 40 mph speed limit on Hicks Road when he came up to and began tailgating a 'slower moving' 2002 Dodge Ram pickup, Smith told the trooper. When the driver of the Ram, Kenneth E. Sapp, 38, of Spring Hill, tapped his brakes in a bid to get Haag to back off, the incident escalated, the trooper reported.

Haag passed Sapp's pickup and then 'stopped abruptly,' forcing Sapp to stop in the roadway, the affidavit quotes Smith as reporting. When Haag got out, apparently to confront the Ram's driver, Sapp drove around him and headed east on Kitten Trail, the report states.

Smith said he followed as the two dueling drivers raced east on Kitten Trail in excess of 80 mph, Ratcliff reported. Smith said he briefly lost sight of the pair at a curve in the road and that when he again spotted the two pickups, both were overturning and out of control.

Sapp was ejected and killed. His son, Kory, 13, suffered a broken leg, the trooper reported.

Smith told Ratcliff he stopped and then remained at the scene to help his brother, David Smith, who was thrown from Haag's pickup and broke his neck.

A man riding with Martin Smith, Anthony Haugh, then drove Smith's pickup to Smith's residence on Catalona Avenue in New Port Richey. There, Haugh said, he saw Haag get out of the bed of the truck and walk away, the affidavit states.

'Anthony Haugh stated that without anyone's knowledge, Brian D. Haag hid in the bed of a truck being driven by Anthony Haugh,' the report states.

Haag turned himself in the next day, telling troopers he left the scene and 'went home to be with his family' rather than render assistance to the crash victims, Ratcliff reported.

The search warrant, executed last week, allowed troopers to fetch an 'Event Data Recorder' installed in all Silverado pickups. The devices record throttle speeds, braking data and air-bag deployment times in the seconds before and after a crash, the affidavit states.

Investigators want to assess all of the evidence 'before any new charges are brought' against Haag, Trooper Larry Coggins said this week.

Reporter David Sommer can be reached at (727) 815-1087 or dsommer@tampatrib.com.

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