Game warden was in compliance with law in fatal wreck, Highway Patrol official says
BY AMANDA BLAND World Staff Writer
Friday, November 23, 2012
WAGONER — A working game warden involved in a fatal collision was driving after dark with his headlights turned off but was in compliance with state law, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman said Friday.
Alan Hogue, 38, was pronounced dead at Wagoner Community Hospital after the wreck early Thursday. Hogue was reportedly driving a 2004 Yamaha dirt bike that was not legal for road usage, said OHP Lt. George Brown.
The bike lacked a headlight and did not have a registered tag, Brown said. The point of impact was determined to be in the eastbound lanes, indicating Hogue’s westbound motor bike was being driven left of center.
The bike collided head-on with an eastbound pickup driven by Wagoner County game warden Benjamin Haff, 30, around 12:30 a.m. on Wagoner County Road 760, according to the OHP.
Hogue was not wearing a helmet and smelled of alcohol, troopers noted in an accident report.
Haff was patrolling for hunters using spotlights to hunt deer near a game refuge in the area, Brown said. The game warden was driving in “black-out conditions” and was “totally within the scope of the law,” he said.
Black-out conditions describe a patrol procedure during which all exterior lights on the enforcement vehicle are deactivated and interior lights are obscured.
For more on this story, see Saturday's Tulsa World
