Portion of highway dedicated to fallen trooper

OHP sued in crash that killed trooper, trucker BY RHETT MORGAN World Staff Writer CLAREMORE -- A representative of an Ohio truck driver who died in a crash that also killed a state trooper has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, records show. The lawsuit, filed Monday in Rogers County District Court, alleges that Trooper William McClendon, 37, was negligent and caused the Oct. 1, 2006, collision on the Will Rogers Turnpike that killed him and Hussein Haji-Ege Osman, 25. The state Department of Public Safety last year noted four unsafe or unlawful actions committed by Osman and McClendon in the afternoon collision, which occurred in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 44 about six miles northeast of Claremore. But in discussing the crash report, OHP Capt. Chris West said in November 2006 that McClendon's improper U-turn across the interstate likely initiated the crash. With his car in front of Osman's 2002 Peterbilt truck, McClendon, of Mounds, attempted a U-turn through a gap in a concrete median, and his car was hit in the left rear by Osman's truck, the report shows. McClendon's "movement was the one that if it had not occurred, the crash probably wouldn't have happened," West told the Tulsa World last year. "So when we make a movement from a direct course like that, whether you have your lights activated or not, you have to make sure you can do so in a safe manner." Osman's vehicle skidded about 94 feet before striking the cruiser at more than 50 mph, the report indicates.