Report: Dallas FF Who Fell From Overpass Took Risks

A Dallas firefighter who was knocked from an icy overpass last year while helping stranded motorists took an unnecessary risk in the moments before his death, according to two investigations.

The Dallas Fire-Rescue line-of-duty-death report about William Scott Tanksley — he went by Scott — has not been made widely available, but it has been posted on the department’s internal Web page. The Dallas Morning News obtained the report late Tuesday. A state fire marshal’s report, which questioned Tanksley’s actions, was released last month.

The state report portrays Tanksley’s death as accidental but preventable. Investigators said the 14-year Dallas Fire-Rescue veteran didn’t fully communicate where he was or what he was doing the night of Feb. 10, 2014, as he worked car crashes at the Spur 408-Interstate 20 interchange in Mountain Creek.

The Dallas report, meanwhile, doesn’t detail the way Tanksley was struck, nor does it recommend any changes to departmental operations. But Lt. Joel Lavender, a Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman, said Wednesday that the department “agreed with the detailed findings and recommendations of the state fire marshal’s report.”

The Dallas investigation centers on confusion at the scene; none of the firefighters on the dark, ice-coated bridge seemed to know where Tanksley was until he was spotted face-down on a road 56 feet below them. Firefighters saw him after they found his blood-stained radio on the ground.

The temperature was 30 degrees that night, and rainfall had frozen on bridges and overpasses in parts of the city. In a two-hour period that night, Dallas Fire-Rescue handled 155 calls.

Tanksley’s crew arrived at the scene of several wrecks at 8:17 p.m. A firefighter told Dallas investigators that Tanksley said on his radio that cars were “ping-ponging off of the concrete wall.”

Around 8:24 p.m., Tanksley helped two motorists stranded on the northbound side of the overpass. Afterward, he hopped over a concrete barrier to the southbound side of the overpass, where the traffic lanes were open. Investigators didn’t know why he did so.

Tanksley didn’t have another firefighter designated as a lookout to warn him about oncoming traffic, according to the state report.

“Crossing over a barrier to work an incident in an unprotected work area should be highly discouraged,” the Texas fire marshal report states.

Within moments, the driver of a 2007 Cadillac CTS on the southbound side saw a car in front of him, a 2009 Dodge Charger, and hit its brakes. The Cadillac slid out of control on the icy road and hit Tanksley. The car carried the 40-year-old Tanksley on its trunk as it slid. When it hit the side of the bridge, the car tossed the firefighter over the side. He fell to another bridge below.

A civilian called 911 at 8:30 p.m. to report Tanksley was on the pavement in front of her. The impact of the fall knocked him out of his boots.

Dallas investigators said the first firefighter to reach Tanksley, Eddie Trevino, “expressed disbelief that the accident had happened.” Firefighters rolled Tanksley over — exposing to them his facial trauma — and performed CPR.

Firefighters tried to get a medical helicopter, but it couldn’t respond because of the icy conditions. A ground ambulance took Tanksley to Methodist Dallas Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 8:50 p.m. The medical examiner ruled that he died of blunt force trauma.

At the time, fire and police officials stated the Cadillac was traveling at “an unsafe speed.” But in July 2014, a Dallas County grand jury declined to indict the Cadillac driver on criminal charges.

The state report also suggests the incident commander at the scene could have considered dividing up the response more because of the deteriorating conditions and multiple accident scenes.

Tanksley was one of three Dallas firefighters killed in the line of duty during a 10-month span. Stanley Wilson, 51, died May 20, 2013, when he was crushed by a collapsing hallway in a far northeast Dallas condo fire. And Dallas Capt. Kenny Luckey Harris Jr., 52, was killed in the April 17, 2013, fertilizer plant explosion in West, where he was a volunteer firefighter.

Tanksley lived in his hometown of Kemp with his wife, Wendi, and three young children. He joined the Dallas fire department in 1999 after starring as a pitcher on the mid-1990s powerhouse Mississippi State University baseball team. The Minnesota Twins drafted him, but he didn’t advance far in the minor leagues.

Tanksley’s uncle, Tom Tanksley, is a retired Dallas Fire-Rescue assistant chief. Family members didn’t respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Those who knew Scott Tanksley have described him as a quiet man who loved helping people and was devoted to his family.

“He never bragged about being the best. He just went out and proved it,” his childhood friend, Gary Freeman, said at Tanksley’s funeral in Terrell. “He didn’t preach about hard work, he just worked hard.”

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