By Casey Jarmes | The News-Review
OSKALOOSA – “On October 14th of 2023, seventh-graders started to make their way to Griffith Park, one by one. There was one common theme amongst them all, was that, when they arrived at the park, they had smiles on their face,” Assistant Attorney General Frank Severino said on Sept. 2, during the closing arguments of David Heady’s trial. “They were eager for the night to begin. They felt like they were in good hands. They trusted. They weren’t the only ones that trusted that night. Their parents, based on invitation by the defendant and his wife, dropped their kids off or allowed their kids to attend, thinking one thing was going to happen: ‘You are going to watch over my children. You are going to provide them with clean, fun entertainment, and you’re not going to let anything else jeoporadize the safety of the kids’…What the parents did not know, what those kids could not know, is that they were not going to an event that was going to provide them with a brief period of time where they would have some happiness. It was going to turn their entire worlds upside down. It was going to leave behind scars, and broken bones, and memories that will never, ever be forgotten.”
The trial for Heady, the former Keokuk County Sheriff’s Deputy arrested for his role in the 2023 hayride accident that injured thirteen children and hospitalized three, began a week earlier, on Aug. 25. Ultimately, Severino’s argument’s swayed the Mahaska County jury, who found Heady guilty on three counts of Child Endangerment Resulting in Serious Injury and ten counts of Child Endangerment Resulting in Bodily Injury.
The end of Heady’s trial ends another chapter in the two-year saga began by the infamous accident. On Oct. 14, 2023, a Halloween night for middle school aged children was held in What Cheer, concluding in a hayride through the county’s backroads. Brubaker drove the hayride, pulling children on a trailer attached to his pickup truck, while Heady sat in the passenger seat next to him. Brubaker had been drinking, both prior to the ride and during it. As the hayride drove down the dark, wet, gravel road, Brubaker swerved into a ditch, resulting in 29 children being flung from the trailer and several of them being run over. Brubaker fled the scene after the accident.
On July 8, Brubaker plead guilty to ten counts of Child Endangerment Resulting in Bodily Injury and three counts of Neglect of a Dependent Person. On Sept. 4, he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
“Any less would serve to minimize the harm you caused,” Judge Daniel Wilson said, after sentencing Brubaker.
“That crash has not only deeply affected our family, but it has also left a scar on our community,” said Angela Snakenburg, parent of one of the hospitalized children, during the sentencing hearing,
“Since you have impeccable character, where were you at? Where were you at while all these other parents, kids, whatever, were there taking care and cleaning up your mess?” asked parent Mark O’Rourke.
“I am truly and deeply sorry,” Brubaker said. “You deserve safety, peace and protection. I failed that…I pray if not today, someday, you will accept my apology.”
The civil lawsuit launched against Brubaker, Heady, and Heady’s wife Victoria by the family of an injured girl, was dismissed in July. The other lawsuit, launched by another victim against just Daniel Brubaker, was settled in August. Now, all that remains is the sentencing of Heady, set to happen on Oct. 17, just three days after the two-year anniversary of the crash.
During his closing arguments, Severino argued that the hayride crash was not an accident, but rather, the result of a series of choices Heady made, in spite of the significant risks right in front of him. “He didn’t just let it happen, he made it happen,” Severino argued.
Severino listed Brubaker’s intoxication, the lack of rails on the trailer, the lack of supervision during the ride, the route over wet, loose gravel roads, the 30 mph speed the truck drove, and Heady ignoring the screams of kids shouting that they were driving too fast as the ingredients in a “recipe for a disaster.”
“It was completely preventable. It was a series of choices that were made by this man, that’s charged in this case, and Dan Brubaker, that led to this tragedy. These kids deserve better. The parents deserve better. And they both knew better,” said Severino.
He noted that Heady could have told Brubaker not to drink or simply told him to slow down, and argued that, because he did not, the accident was inevitable. He stated that the kids knew they were in danger and told the Heady and Brubaker to slow down, but were ignored.
Severino focused heavily on Heady’s behavior after the crash, claiming that, instead of calling 911, communicating with parents, or helping the injured children, Heady instead stood in front of the truck with Brubaker and worked out what story they would tell the police. He stated that Heady had lied to the police, claiming that Brubaker had not been drinking and that Brubaker’s wife Jess was the one driving, which allowed Brubaker to flee the crime scene. Severino stated it was a shame what happened to the kids, but that the cover-up after the crash was “unforgivable.”
“Folks, there’s only one reason why you needed to get your story straight. It’s because you knew exactly what you had done earlier in the evening, or in the days before, was not only morally wrong, but it was illegal,” Severino said. “And it doesn’t matter that there are kids being life-flighted to the University of Iowa Hospitals, are being operated on, all that mattered was ‘We gotta make sure that we’re covered for ourselves.'”
Severino stated that Heady planned and hosted the party, meaning the children were under his care and his responsibility. He claimed that Heady selected the trailer, decided to have the hayride happen at night over dangerous roads, and chose to have Brubaker drive, despite his intoxication. He stated that, as a law enforcement officer, Heady would have known that Brubaker was drunk and how dangerous it was to let him drive. He noted that they could have done two different trips, instead of loading so many kids onto the trailer, or had a chaperone ride with them. He stated that, because Brubaker was watching the road, it was Heady’s job to pay attention to the kids. He pointed out that, despite his law enforcement training, Heady flipped one of the children who had been run over onto her back, something cops are trained to never ever do after a back injury because doing so can cause spinal damage. He pointed to this as evidence of a “complete lack of care and concern” for the children.
As Severino made his final arguments, he went through the injured children, one at a time, listing off their injuries to the jury.
“Does this crash ever occur if he doesn’t let Dan Brubaker drive that night?” Severino asked rhetorically. “Does that crash ever occur if he doesn’t give Dan Brubaker the alcohol? Does that crash ever occur if he doesn’t give the instructions to take it where this thing happens. Does this crash ever occur if he doesn’t help Dan Brubaker by saying nothing when the kids are yelling and screaming in the back like he should? Every step along the way, he knew what was going to happen, and he just turned a blind eye every single time…This is about choices, and this is about accountability. It’s about betraying the trust of these kids, of their parents, of the community, his own family, and for that he needs to be held accountable. Not because simply there was a crash, but because he caused the crash. His actions directly led to this, and if he had taken any steps along the way, and used even the smallest amount of good judgment, these kids would not have had to live that night.”
“Members of the jury, hindsight is 20/20,” Defense Attorney Jeff Powell said, beginning his closing argument. “One of the parents, Miss Davis, told you that last week. She told the police after the crash, she told you that last week, and a lot of parents believe that. Mr. Heady no doubt believes that. No one intended for this to happen.”
Powell argued that, while Heady had made bad decisions, that did not make him guilty of child endangerment, the crime he was charged with. He asked why Heady was on trial, and not other parents, pointing out that other people saw the unsafe trailer before it left What Cheer. He noted that a lot of other parents had been driving that night, and argued against the idea that anyone would have known the ride was destined for an accident. He noted that no one else said anything about the trailer. Powell asked how Heady was different from any of the other parents.
“Dan Brubaker makes sense,” Powell said. “Dan Brubaker used his truck. It was Dan Brubaker’s trailer. Dan Brubaker was the sole operator of the truck when the accident ended badly. It was Dan Brubaker’s foot on the accelerator, it was Dan Brubaker’s hands on the steering wheel when that trailer went off the road. That makes sense. No one told Dan Bubaker to go 30 miles, or 25 miles, or 20 miles per hour. Nobody did. Dan Brubaker is a professional truck driver, he knows how to drive a motor vehicle, and he doesn’t need someone in the passenger seat to tell him not to drive off the road. So why David?”
Under Iowa law, to be found guilty of child endangerment, a defendant must A: have had custody or control over a child, and B: have knowingly acted in a manner that created a substantial risk to the child. Powell argued that Heady did not have custody over the children and that, while he had made mistakes by not acting, the law punishes action, not failure to act.
Powell disputed the prosecution’s claim that Heady hosted the event, stating that it was planned by Jess Brubaker and Victoria Heady, who then asked their husbands to help out. Powell argued that Heady didn’t have temporary supervision of the children simply because he rode passenger in the truck.
Powell told the jury that Severino was trying to confuse them, to hide the fact that he had not proven that that Heady had knowingly acted in a way that placed children at risk. He told the jury that they shouldn’t confuse things that look bad with evidence of child endangerment. Making false statements to law enforcement after the accident is illegal, but was not the crime Heady was charged with. Covering up a crime after the fact is illegal, but it does not make you guilty of having committed the crime. Powell argued that not watching the children during the ride was a mistake, but that it wasn’t what caused the accident. Powell stated that Heady called his wife and told her to call 9/11, but that, even if he didn’t call 911 like he should have, the accident had already happened. He stated that not calling 911 couldn’t make Heady guilty for Child Endangerment Causing Serious Injury, because the injuries had already occurred.
Powell stated that Heady had told Brubaker to turn left at the fairgrounds, but had been ignored. He stated that Heady had suggested having adults on the back of the trailer, but been ignored. Powell stated that there was zero reason to think the accident wouldn’t have happened if they took a different route over gravel, assuming Brubaker was still driving. He stated that Brubaker wouldn’t have listened and slowed down if Heady told him to. Powell hammered in the fact that Heady wasn’t driving and wasn’t in control of the truck.
“What was he supposed to do?” Powell asked. “Was he supposed to take the wheel? Physically make contact? Would it be okay, if he had simply said ‘slow down’ and Dan Brubaker had looked at him and said ‘no?’…They want you to punish David, but they haven’t proven that he’s guilty of the crimes that they actually brought him to court for.”
Powell argued that, while Brubaker had had five drinks over eight hours before the crash, none of the parents noticed he was intoxicated because Brubaker wasn’t intoxicated. He stated that Brubaker had been drinking, but there’s no proof he was obviously intoxicated or that it affected his ability to drive. He asked how, if Brubaker was intoxicated, how Heady was supposed to know, when none of the other parents noticed.
“I know that this is an emotional case. That you’ve been sitting here, patiently listening, and that you’re upset about decisions that were made. And I don’t disagree that, had various people made different decisions, that this could have probably been avoided. But that’s not what you’re here for. The only thing you’re here for is to determine whether or not my client, David Heady, is guilty of child endangerment, and he’s not,” Powell argued.
Severino rebutted this, arguing that, to believe Brubaker wasn’t intoxicated, you’d have to have not listened to the evidence. He stated that Brubaker fled because he was intoxicated. He pointed out that the cops who spoke to him after the accident said he was drunk and that his words were slurred.
“He knew. They were drinking together, all day long, and he knew and he still put him behind the driver’s wheel of that vehicle, and he allowed him to drive away,” Severino said. “He acts like he has no control over this. He’s with him the whole day, including when they went to pick up the trailer. And all he had to do was just simply say ‘Just don’t drink around these kids’ or ‘Don’t drive.’ But he didn’t. Just as if he gave a drunk driver the keys to a car, he gave these kids, the most precious thing that was out there that day, to the drunk driver. And then watched the drunk driver continue to drive drunk down the road at excessive speeds. He claims he doesn’t have any responsibility, where’s the proof. Go back and review your notes to know what he told Trooper Talperin. ‘They were my responsibility and I failed them. We were going way too fast,’ is what he said…His hands are dirty, because he was deeply involved. Folks, the parents there had no idea. They couldn’t have known what was going on in those woods when it was dark at night. But he did. They couldn’t have known how fast they were going to go down the road, but he did. They didn’t know exactly whether the kids were going to scream and holler and say ‘Stop,’ but he did. He knew every step along the way, failed those kids, and nearly cost every one of them their lives.”
