By Casey Jarmes | The News-Review
SIGOURNEY – Two years and one day after it began, the story of the infamous 2023 hayride accident has drawn to a close. On Oct. 14 of that year, Keokuk County Sheriff’s Deputy David Heady Jr. and his wife Victoria organized a Halloween party in What Cheer, featuring a hayride through the county’s gravel back roads. Daniel Brubaker, the owner of a local trucking company, drove the hayride in his pickup, with Heady riding passenger. Brubaker had been drinking with Heady for hours leading up to the hayride and both men drank as they pulled children on a trailer. Brubaker drove too fast and swerved, throwing the children from the trailer. Several children were ran over by the trailer, suffering horrific injuries.
Brubaker pleaded guilty in July of this year and was sentenced to 15 years last month. Heady pleaded not guilty. A Mahaska County jury found him guilty of two counts of Child Endangerment Resulting in Serious Injury and eleven counts of Child Endangerment Resulting in Bodily Injury on Sept. 2. On Oct. 15, Judge Daniel Wilson sentenced Heady to ten years in prison.
A week prior to the sentencing, on Oct. 8, Heady’s lawyer, Jeffrey Powell, filed a motion requesting a new trial and for an arrest of judgment. Powell argued that the state had not proved that Heady had “Knowingly Acted” and“ Knowingly Created a Substantial Risk to the Child’s Safety,” which are required by Iowa law for child endangerment charges; that the court failed to instruct the jury that failure to act is legally not grounds for child endangerment; that the court erred by allowing the jury to consider if Heady had aided and abetted Brubaker, arguing that there was no evidence that he aided and abetted at the time the incident occurred; that the court violated Heady’s due process rights by allowing the prosecution to center much of their case on the fact that Brubaker had been drinking, despite the fact that Brubaker’s plea blamed the accident on excessive speed, not on his drinking; and finally that there had been insufficient evidence for the jury’s verdict. Wilson rejected all of these arguments, noting that several of them had previously been rejected during Heady’s trial. He stated that Heady had arranged the event, gave Brubaker alcohol before and during the hayride, and drank himself during the ride.
Assistant Attorney General Frank Severino requested that Wilson sentence Heady to 25 years; ten years non-concurrent for the two serious injury charges and five years, concurrent with each other but not concurrent with the other charges, for the eleven bodily injury charges. Severino called Heady the “architect” of the accident, pointing out the nine hours of decisions and drinking leading up to the hayride. He claimed that Heady had still not taken responsibility and continued to blame other people for the accident. Severino brought up Powell’s closing argument from a month earlier, where he said that “hindsight’s 20/20,” responding that Heady should have had foresight and seen the dangers right in front of him.
Severino stated that Heady was a police officer, trained to detect danger and respond to emergencies, but that he used that training to obstruct the investigation. He hammered in the fact that, after the accident, instead of helping the injured children, Heady lied to the police, distracted them so Brubaker could flee the scene, and called Brubaker’s wife to ask her to destroy evidence. Severino claimed that Heady almost killed not just half of an entire class, but his own son.
“These children nearly lost their lives. This man had every opportunity and had every duty to do better. It’s a disgrace to say that he was just simply a passenger in this vehicle,” Severino said.
Powell requested Heady only be given ten years, the minimum allowed based on the charges, and that the judge suspend all fines. He stated that Heady’s actions did not justify a longer prison sentence than Brubaker’s and that ten years was already substantial. He stated that Heady was a member of law enforcement with no criminal record, aside from a misdemeanor trespassing charge when he was twenty. Powell stated that the court should not hold the fact that Heady excercised his right to a jury trial against him or be influenced by “unproven” criminal allegations. Powell stated that he disagreed with the claim that Heady hadn’t shown remorse and that he certainly didn’t intend for this to happen.
“I’m pleading for mercy,” Heady said. “As it says in Mathew 5:7, ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.’ Your honor, you have heard the facts of this case. You’ve heard me say ‘some of these mistakes I’m not proud of.’ This is not at all how this night should have gone, and I am beyond thankful nobody suffered worse injuries than they did. I thank God every day that these kids are okay, and able to live life to the fullest. I hope that these children and their parents understand how sorry I am that they were affected by this incident.”
Heady pleaded for the judge to be merciful to his wife and three children, who need their father. He stated that he wasn’t the same person he was two years ago, and had began attending church regularly. Heady quoted Luke 3:16, saying ‘Be merciful, as your Father is merciful.’
Several victims or parents were given a chance to speak about the impact the accident. A girl referred to E.M. by the court documents was the first to take the stand. She is perhaps the child most harmed by the accident; after being ran over by the trailer, E.M. suffered a broken pelvis, four broken vertebrae, and a lacerated liver, which required her to be air-lifted to the University of Iowa. E.M. stated that the accident changed how she sees life and made it hard to focus in school, because everything feels overwhelming. She stated that Heady hadn’t just hurt her, but had hurt her family, the people she loves most. She stated that she still doesn’t understand how a grown man, a father and a police officer, could cause so much pain. E.M. stated she was thankful it was her under that trailer, not someone else, because she never wants someone else to have to experience what she went through.
And yet, despite her pain and anger, E.M. requested mercy. She stated that one of Heady’s kids was in her class, and shouldn’t have to go through childhood without a father. E.M. stated that prison was for people who hurt others on purpose, a place where they can learn from their mistakes. She stated that everyone has learned from this and that she knows Heady didn’t mean to hurt her. She stated that justice was knowing he had lost so much, including losing his career and reputation, the pain his wife and kids will continue to go through, and the fact that Heady will never be able to go back to the life he had before. She stated this punishment was enough and would follow for the rest of Heady’s life.
“Our community needs to heal, and our community includes you and your family,” said E.M.
Other victims felt less merciful. Tracy Pfannebecker, parent of an injured girl, read off a letter from her daughter, where her daughter stated that she had put her trust in Brubaker and Heady and that Heady could have prevented the accident by simply telling Brubaker to not drive drunk or by not giving him alcohol.
“I will never forget when we crashed and the first thing you did as you got out of the truck was not to help the children or call 911, but to discuss with the driver what you were going to say to law enforcement when they arrived,” Pfannebecker read.
The letter stated that Heady could have killed a child, but God decided to give him luck and only severely injure the kids. Pfannebecker’s daughter wrote that she was thankful she would never have to worry about Heady again. Pfannebecker also spoke herself, stating that her daughter had been so excited for the party and begged her to let her go. Pfannebecker stated that she let her daughter go because she thought the fact that a cop organized the event meant her daughter would be in good hands and that she wouldn’t have let her go if she knew there would be drinking. She stated that the kids will never forget that night and will have to live with that nightmare for the rest of their lives.
“I will never forget the call I got that night, thinking I could have lost my daughter, or my daughter could have lost one of her friends. Just because of you, David, for being stupid and supplying alcohol to yourself and Dan. Drinking was more important for you two that night,” said Pfannebecker.
She explained that her daughter walked away with a swollen eye, headache and shoulder injury, which required physical therapy and chiropractor trips to heal. She stated her daughter had fallen behind in school because she was worried about friends, missed a season of playing basketball, and lost friends over trust issues.
A state attorney read off a letter by parent Nicole Tracy, where Tracy stated that, as a cop, Heady had made a commitment to hold himself and others accountable. She stated that he had abandoned this commitment, leaving the community with fear, anger, and grief.
“This was not an accident. It was a choice. A choice to ignore duty, ignore safety, and to ignore the very oath that was sworn, and it has caused harm beyond words,” wrote Tracy.
Parent Annie Burrow stated that families entrusted their children to Heady, who gave them over to a man who drank heavily. She stated things were difficult because David and Victoria Heady refuse to take responsibility. Burrow stated that Brubaker took responsibility and plead guilty, but Heady forced the case to go to trial and forced the children to relive their trauma in court.
“Attempting to shift all responsibility onto Dan is beneath the dignity expected of someone who once wore a badge of public trust,” said Burrow. “Refusing to own his own choices is unjust. It’s a failure of integrity, that sets the worst possible example for every child. Pretending innocence and shifting blame does not show strength of character, but instead reveals deep moral lateness and a cowardly form of dishonesty”
She stated that Heady’s crimes weighed heavier because he was an officer, and that they should have been able to trust him to not put their children in harms way. Burrow stated that actions have consequences and justice requires accountability. She stated that it hurt that Brubaker and Heady’s children would be collateral damage, but that this does not erase the consequences laid out by the law.
Ultimately, Judge Wilson gave Heady the minimum sentence, ten years for the Child Endangerment Resulting in Serious Injury charges and five years for the Child Endangerment Resulting in Bodily injury charges, served concurrently, for a total of ten years. He issued minimum fines, stating that higher fines won’t help the victims or anyone else.
