From the beginning, Bobby Petrino's motorcycle accident raised questions beyond the comely blonde involved. From the point of view of the Arkansas State Police, they needed to quickly clear up the matter of Captain Lance King, an off-duty officer who transported Petrino—but not Dorrell—to the hospital.
Today the police released a lengthy statement from Captain King, as provided to athletic director Jeff Long. It is noted that "King did not violate any State Police policy or state laws," and Petrino and Dorrell do not face any charges, so this statement serves only to give Arkansas evidence when they decide what to do with Petrino—and to cover Arkansas State Police's behind.
Perhaps the most interesting note, from the point of view of Petrino's future. King's statement says that at 2:50 p.m. on Thursday, he informed Petrino that the accident report would be released that day. Less than a half hour later—at 3:12 p.m., to be exact—Petrino called Jeff Long and told him about Dorrell.
The full statement is available at ArkansasSports360. We'll cherrypick some blockquotes for the Cliffs Notes version.
While at the Neighborhood Market, at approximately 6:30 P.M, I was contacted on my cell phone by Troop L Sergeant Gabe Weaver who informed me of a motorcycle accident on Arkansas State Highway 16 in Madison County in the community of Crosses. I believe that Sergeant Weaver contacted me with his cell phone.
Sergeant Weaver stated that the rider of the motorcycle had departed the scene in a private vehicle en route to the hospital. Sergeant Weaver said that Troop L Dispatch took the license number of the motorcycle from a witness and ran an ownership check on this license which returned to Arkansas Football Coach Bobby Petrino.
I then called Coach Petrino's phone from my cell phone and left him a message. This message said, I don't even know if this is your number anymore, but your motorcycle has been involved in an accident and I wanted to call and check on you. I told him if he needed any assistance to give me a call back.
I was called back in approximately one to three minutes by an unidentified female.
This person said that Coach Petrino had been in a motorcycle accident and was hurt and was headed to the emergency room. This person asked if I could meet them at the parking lot located at Crossover Road and Highway 16 in order to take Coach Petrino to the hospital. This person told me that they were in Elkins and headed toward Fayetteville. This person also told me that they were driving a white Jeep Cherokee.
This was the vehicle belonging to Benjamin Williams and Jody Stewart, the random passersby who first came across the crash scene. After Petrino was handed off to Capt. King, they took Dorrell to her own car.
Coach Petrino had visible injuries. He was covered with scrapes and cuts and had blood and had swelling around his face and head. He was complaining of neck trouble. He was hardly able to speak, only groaning.
I then told Coach Petrino that I would get him to the Washington Regional Hospital emergency room as fast and safely as I could. Coach Petrino asked me if I thought he had broken his neck. I told Coach Petrino that he was breathing, not bleeding excessively and not paralyzed, so he was probably going to be all right.
Before departing the scene, I verbally provided my cell phone number to the white female who I think put it in her phone. I told her to call me tomorrow and I would have a trooper contact her for an interview. I was at this location approximately one minute.
This white female had blond hair and I think was dressed in jeans. She showed no sign of any injuries. I had never seen this person before in my life.
[...]
During this short (four to five mile) commute Coach Petrino did nothing but groan in pain for the entire ride. He said nothing about the accident except that a gust of wind blew him off the road. It was obvious that he was in a lot of pain. He kept saying that he thought he had broken his neck.
The next day, Monday, Petrino phoned Capt. King.
I asked him if he was going to be available for an interview with the investigating trooper. He asked what the trooper would need and I told him the trooper would need his driver's license, vehicle registration and insurance information. I told him the trooper would ask him specific questions about the accident such as direction of travel, what caused the crash and any passenger information. He asked if he could be interviewed the following day after he was released from the hospital. I said that would probably be fine and asked if 3:00 P.M. was all right. Coach Petrino said that football practice starts around 3:00 and could we talk to him after practice. I told him that I couldn't believe based on his condition that he would be able to run a practice, and he said that he was going to run it from the press box. We spoke about his condition and terminated the phone call. Coach Petrino asked if passenger information was required and I said that all we need to know is the passenger's name and address. I told him that we had been getting phone calls from people who had said there was a passenger on the rear of the motorcycle and if we didn't get a name, the report would state unidentified white female. I didn't ask him the name and he didn't ask me to keep her name off the report. I knew he would be interviewed shortly.
Petrino was formally interviewed by other troopers on Tuesday, at which point "Coach Petrino walked them down the hallway at the Broyles Complex and introduced them to the passenger, who was identified as Jessica Dorrell, who was also interviewed.
Full Document: Capt. Lance King Statement on Bobby Petrino Motorcycle Crash [ArkansasSports360]