Police found liquor bottle just before fatal crash

CEDAR RAPIDS – Less than 90 minutes before a crash that killed a Cedar Rapids teenager, police found a liquor bottle near where the car involved had been parked, police acknowledged Friday.

The driver in the deadly crash, 17-year-old Ramius Hardiman, of Cedar Rapids, has been charged with vehicular homicide in the Nov. 8 crash. Prosecutors allege Hardiman was legally drunk and driving recklessly when the car rolled in the 3300 block of Cottage Grove Avenue SE.

One of the backseat passengers, Jose Mendoza, 17, of Cedar Rapids, died later that day at an Iowa City hospital.

Police had been tight-lipped about officers' interaction with the teens before the crash, but released new details this week after the case was forwarded to the county attorney.

Sgt. Cristy Hamblin, spokeswoman for the Police Department, said Officers Blake Crutchley and Eric Butler were checking a noise complaint around 12:15 a.m. when they found the teens who were later involved in the crash, and two others, standing around a car listening to music in a parking lot at 3333 Pioneer Ave. SE. The officers told them to turn down the music, but no citations were issued and there was no sign of alcohol or intoxication, Crutchley wrote in the police report.

When the officers returned to their squad car, the teens got into the car and backed out of the parking space. Because four people were in the backseat of the car, the officers initiated a traffic stop on the car.

Katie Opperman, 18, of Central City, the registered owner of the car, pulled over and the officers spoke to the teens again. Again, the officers observed no clear indication that the teens had been drinking during that conversation, according to the police report.

At some point, the officers noticed a bottle of vodka in the parking space where Opperman's car had been, Hamblin said. The police report does not indicate if the officers knew about it before the traffic stop, and Hamblin declined to make either officer available for an interview.

At the crash site about an hour after the traffic stop, Opperman was found intoxicated and in possession of a bottle of vodka, police said.

Hamblin said even if the officers knew about the liquor bottle when they made the traffic stop, they would need more evidence to prove that it belonged to the teens. She said searching the car without any indication of an intoxicated driver would have been a “clear violation” of the Fourth Amendment, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Hamblin defended the officers' actions and cautioned against “Monday morning quarterbacking.”

“How do you prove that (the vodka bottle) was theirs?” Hamblin asked rhetorically. “We didn't see them throw anything from the vehicle. The officer had no reason to know.”

Hamblin compared it to the parking lot at a college football game. Even though there may be bottles of alcohol in the vicinity, police need more evidence than that to prove it belongs to someone, she said.

Opperman was convicted of public intoxication and possession of alcohol under the legal age and fined $265, according to court documents. A fourth teen involved in the crash was not charged with a crime.

Hardiman's case is currently in juvenile court, but the state has requested that he be tried as an adult. A hearing in that matter is scheduled for Dec. 9. If the request is granted, more details, including Hardiman's blood alcohol level at the time of the crash, could be made public.