ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) — A judge entered a not-guilty plea and
ordered restrictions Monday for a suspended central Indiana police
officer charged with causing a crash that killed a man and injured his
pregnant wife.
Madison Circuit Judge David Happe ordered Edgewood
Officer James Foutch to abstain from driving and alcohol while appearing
weekly for drug tests and to report any drugs prescribed by a doctor.
Authorities
say the 41-year-old Foutch was off duty and under the influence of an
anti-anxiety drug and a painkiller when his SUV going 92 mph plowed into
the rear of a car and sent it into a utility pole along Indiana 32 west
of Anderson. The April 6 crash killed Jesse Sperry, 23, of Noblesville
and injured his wife, Rebecca Sperry, 22, as they drove home from
church. Rebecca Sperry gave birth to a daughter by emergency C-section
that day at an Indianapolis hospital.
Happe set a Nov. 18 trial
date for Foutch on felony charges of causing death while driving
intoxicated, causing serious injury while driving intoxicated, reckless
homicide, and criminal recklessness. The judge also appointed attorney
Evan Broderick as Foutch’s public defender.
Foutch told reporters he had no comment as he left the courtroom.
Since
the accident, Foutch, a 12-year police veteran, has been placed on
administrative leave without pay by the Edgewood Town Council. Edgewood
is about 30 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
Rebecca Sperry and
her daughter, Autumn Marie, both spent a week in Indianapolis hospitals
recovering after the crash. The two have since gone home.
Foutch
was not injured in the crash, but his girlfriend, who riding with him,
was taken to a local hospital to be treated for pain.