Original Article Sheriff faults car for his accident May. 30, 2005 12:00 AM Sheriff Joe Arpaio insists this is not interesting. That the citizens of Arizona won't care to read about how he totaled his county-issued car at a Fountain Hills drugstore. How he says the car lurched forward uncontrollably, ramming over a curb and a giant boulder before mercifully coming to rest inches from a busy street. Arpaio was not injured in the wreck. But he was shaken up a bit. Especially in the confidence he had in his Crown Victoria, which he alternatively referred to as "stupid," "garbage" and a "lemon." A diagram of the wreck shows the sheriff jumped the curb at the end of a parking space, heading straight into a plant and climbing over a boulder. That impact blew out the front tires and broke the drive shaft. The car came to rest on the sidewalk of Palisades Boulevard, one of the main streets through the town of Fountain Hills. A simple explanation would be that Arpaio hit the gas instead of the brake. But he bristled at that suggestion. "Nooo, naaaah," the sheriff said, shaking his head vigorously before I could even finish asking him the question. We were in the parking lot of another shopping center, this time for a news conference on safe driving. "I'm a big supporter of traffic safety," Arpaio told reporters. The campaign was needed, the 72-year-old sheriff said, because students were getting out of school and "young people, sometimes they have a problem behind the wheel." Arpaio insists he did not have any problems behind the wheel. He says his wreck was caused by something mechanical. "I've had problems with that car," he said about the 2001 model that sustained $7,227.21 worth of damage, mainly to its undercarriage and wheel support. "I was never happy with that car." The normally media-friendly Sheriff's Office kept quiet about the April 2 accident. His office also was hesitant to release the report after I filed a public-records request. Lt. Paul Chagolla, a department spokesman, questioned why I wanted the report and dismissively told me it was on a "list of priorities." When the Sheriff's Office did give up the report, it also included several pages of repair records, seeking to bolster Arpaio's claim that the car had mechanical failures. Highlighted sections of work orders show the car, over the past year, had its transmission rebuilt, leaking fuel gaskets replaced and brake pads and rotors changed out. But nothing would explain what Arpaio described: a car that suddenly zoomed forward unstoppably. "It lurched and I couldn't stop it and I just kept going," Arpaio said. That's what he told his deputy who investigated the accident, which occurred about 10:30 a.m. on a Saturday. A log of radio traffic shows the state Department of Public Safety showed up at the scene, but the Sheriff's Office kept the investigation. "Mr. Arpaio said he had pulled into the parking lot of the Osco Drug store and was going to park his vehicle in a space on the north side of the parking lot when his vehicle would not stop subsequently striking the curb and stopping in the landscaping," the report says. The car was towed to Five Star Ford for repairs. A notation on the repair log asks the mechanic to check for "throttle sticking," meaning whether the accelerator cable was frayed or whether something was making the car act as if the gas pedal were being pressed. A notation from the mechanic says that portion of the car showed no problems. Mark Salem, a Tempe mechanic who hosts a weekend radio show on KTAR-AM, laughed when I read him those notations. I initially told Salem everything about the incident except the driver's name. Salem has worked as a mechanical expert for insurance companies for the past 15 years. He said he has done about 25 cases of "mysterious acceleration" and none has a mechanical reason. "The inescapable conclusion is that these definitely involve the driver inadvertently pressing the accelerator instead of, or in addition to, the brake pedal," he said, adopting the well-polished manner he uses in court testimony. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducted a study of "sudden acceleration" accidents that reached the same conclusion. That theory is further bolstered in Arpaio's wreck by a mechanic's notation that the "over rev limiter" was activated. That system, Salem said, starts shutting down the car, cylinder by cylinder, if the engine is turning dangerously fast. It also means, "the foot was to the floor." Still, Arpaio is sticking to his story. He didn't make a mistake. It was the car's fault. "Maybe I should have gotten a new car (before this happened)," he said. "What do you do? Give up the car? Give it to someone else? Make it their problem? No, I'm not going to do that." In the parking lot, after the safe-driving news conference, he pointed out the 2002 Crown Victoria he's driving now. He said this is a much better car. "I'm a straight shooter," he said, before he got in his car and drove downtown. "You've got to appreciate that." Yes, but just to be safe, as he pulled out of the parking space I was off to the side. Reach Ruelas at (602) 444-8473 or richard.ruelas@arizonarepublic.com.