Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh calls Clifton Reynolds a menace on the road.
View full sizeClifton Reynolds rear-ended one car, hit a second, then crashed into the front door of Pier 57 restaurant in Clay, deputies said. A day later, he was involved in a head-on crash that sent a 23-year-old computer whiz to Upstate Hospital, where he is in critical condition.
Editors' note: This story was written by John O'Brien and Robert A. Baker.
Syracuse, NY -- Oswego police stopped Clifton R. Reynolds in November with a bag of methamphetamine in his car and charged him with driving under the influence of the drug.
Nine years earlier, Reynolds was driving at more than three times the legal limit for intoxication when he rear-ended a car in Van Buren.
This week, he was charged with causing two spectacular crashes on consecutive days, at least one of which while intoxicated, according to Onondaga County sheriff’s deputies. In the second, Reynolds crossed a double-yellow center line and collided head-on with an oncoming car, deputies said.
Sheriff Kevin Walsh called Reynolds a menace on the road.
In the wake of Reynolds’ spree, a 23-year-old computer whiz battles through surgery, a child has nightmares of a loud bang and flying glass and questions linger about how one driver could do so much damage.
Reynolds’ blood-alcohol content was 0.25 percent at 4:30 a.m. Sept. 2, 2001, when he crashed into the back of another vehicle in Van Buren, according to court records. The legal limit is 0.08. His driver’s license was revoked for a year, and he was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
Eight years later, Reynolds was driving to Oswego to pick up his paycheck when police pulled him over, he said in a police report. They charged him with driving while ability impaired by drugs and possessing methamphetamine and marijuana.
“I was wrong,” he told police. “This isn’t something that I usually do.” He pleaded guilty, was fined $500 and had his driver’s license suspended.
Suspension didn't stop him
View full sizeThis is the 2007 Chevrolet Trail Blazer that Clifton Reynolds was driving when he hit Richard Zimmerman head-on Thursday night in Baldwinsville. The car is being held Friday at Noble's Tire & Service in Baldwinsville. That suspension started Wednesday, but that didn’t stop Reynolds. That day, the Nissan Pathfinder he was driving rear-ended one car, hit a second, then crashed into the front door of Pier 57 restaurant, in Clay, deputies said.
Investigators estimate Reynolds was going 65 mph, Walsh said. One witness heard Reynolds’ car accelerating after it hit the first vehicle, Walsh said.
Jigishaban Patel had her 5-year-old son in her car when Reynolds careened into them after hitting the first vehicle. “My son was screaming and crying,” Patel said. “All the glass shattered in the back window and flew into the seat.”
Her son is traumatized, she said. “He wakes up crying in the night,” Patel said. “And I’m so scared to drive my car right now.”
Reynolds, 35, spent the night in the hospital and left the next day. Investigators want to know if he left against medical advice, Walsh said. Nearly 31 hours after that crash, shortly before 9 p.m. Thursday, Reynolds was back on the road.
This time he drove a 2007 Chevrolet Trailblazer, speeding south on River Road, in Lysander, deputies said. He crossed the double-yellow center line while trying to pass a car and collided head-on with a car driven by Richard Zimmerman, deputies said. Skid marks show Zimmerman jammed on his brakes, but Reynolds never applied his, Walsh said.
Both of the cars Reynolds crashed are registered to the same person: Kelly Slade, of 8723 Drumlin Heights Drive, Lysander. Slade told investigators he took them without her permission, Walsh said.
He could not describe their relationship. She was not at home Friday when a reporter tried to reach her.
A willing hand
View full sizeRichard Zimmerman was driving this 2008 Chevrolet Impala when it was struck by a 2007 Chevrolet Trail Blazer being driven by Clifton Reynolds in Baldwinsville. The car is being held at Noble's Tire & Service in Baldwinsville. Zimmerman’s friends were left to grapple with an event monstrously unfair and random. Zimmerman, 23, was on his way home from helping a friend set up a computer, said Carolyn Jones, Zimmerman’s friend and supervisor at the Best Buy store in DeWitt.
“He was just doing what he normally does: He visits friends, answers their questions, reaches out to people who need help,” Jones said. “That’s just who Richie is.”
Zimmerman has worked at the store since it opened four years ago, Jones said. He started working a second job recently at Time Warner Cable, she said.
Zimmerman — a graduate of C.W. Baker High School, in Baldwinsville — was saving money to finish his degree in computer science at Onondaga Community College, Jones said. She said he was excited about the Chevrolet Impala he had just bought.
Zimmerman works on the “Geek Squad” at Best Buy, fixing computers, Jones said. He goes out of his way for everyone, even those who cross him, she said. “All of us are going to have a very hard time forgiving the gentleman who did this,” Jones said. “But Rich will be the first to say everyone deserves a second chance.”
‘Oh my god’
Cory Goodrich, 19, said he heard the sound of brakes and turned in time to see the crash Thursday night in the northbound lane of River Road. Goodrich was being dropped off at his house by a friend.
“It was head-on when they hit,” Goodrich said. “It was bad.” He estimated each car was going 50 mph.
At impact, the back wheels of Reynolds’ truck left the ground, Goodrich said. He and his friend ran to the two vehicles. Zimmerman didn’t look conscious, Goodrich said. The two went to Reynolds’ car.
“The guy in the truck was looking at us saying, ‘Oh my god, oh my god,’” Goodrich said. An off-duty firefighter arrived as Goodrich’s friend called 911, he said.
Reynolds, of 8406 Gaskin Road, Clay, was discharged Friday from Upstate University Hospital. Sheriff’s investigators charged him with driving while intoxicated, driving while ability impaired by drugs, aggravated unlicensed operation, imprudent speed and driving to the left of pavement markings in Wednesday’s crash.
In Thursday’s crash, Reynolds was charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, aggravated unlicensed operation, reckless driving, imprudent speed and driving to the left of pavement markings.
Police seek blood sample
Investigators were working with prosecutors to obtain a search warrant that would allow them to get a sample of Reynolds’ blood from the hospital, Walsh said. The blood was drawn for medical purposes and could be tested for alcohol or drugs, he said.
Walsh would not comment on what Reynolds told investigators.
Reynolds was arraigned Friday in Clay Town Court and ordered held in the Justice Center jail on $35,000 cash or $60,000 bond on the Clay charges and $15,000 cash or $30,000 bond on the Lysander charges.
Zimmerman’s friends are praying for his quick recovery. He underwent surgery Friday at Upstate, where he was listed in critical condition. Jones was keeping his co-workers and friends updated.
Zimmerman calls Jones his big sister, she said. The two of them often went out for ice cream together at the Friendly’s restaurant on Erie Boulevard East, she said. “The first thing I’m going to do, when he can do it, is send him some Friendly’s ice cream,” Jones said. “I’ll do it every day if I can.”
Tim Knauss contributed to this report. Contact John O’Brien at jobrien@syracuse.com or 470-2187 and Robert Baker at rbaker@syracuse.com or 470-2182.