Earlier this month, we wrote about a tragic car crash that resulted in the death of a 20-year-old Tennessee man. He crashed during a high-speed chase with a trooper for the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP).

Car accidents and fatalities are sometimes an unfortunate consequence of the work that law enforcement must perform. However, the alleged manner in which the trooper responded to the crash has raised many serious questions and concerns. The trooper is now fighting to keep his job and is also being sued by the victim's family in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Video footage taken from a camera in the trooper's cruiser shows that he drove past the single-vehicle accident and slowed to about 20 mph but did not come to a stop, nor did he report the accident to dispatch. Instead, he drove a short distance away and waited for nearly five minutes until he heard that the accident had been reported by someone else in the area.

He then returned to the scene and "put on a show" by spraying the vehicle with a fire extinguisher. He later admitted that he knew the young driver was dead.

Still, the trooper is fighting to keep his job and maintains his innocence. He explained his actions to a THP hearing officer, saying, "I had to make a quick decision. I did everything I could do to save the life of the driver."

But evidence of his actions seems to contradict that statement. A THP sergeant noted: "There was smoke rising 20-25 feet in the air. There appeared to be the beginning glow of a fire. You saw or should have seen the crashed vehicle and should have stopped."

It has already been announced that the trooper will not face any criminal charges for his actions that night. However, a decision about his employment status will be announced later this month.

The victim's family is also planning to hold the trooper liable in a $10 million wrongful death suit. Their attorney explains that regardless of whatever the young man may have done to instigate the car chase is irrelevant compared to the trooper's negligence in failing to provide any aid to him after the car accident.

He said: "What this case is really about is the response of our public servants and what we would want them to do in any citizen's case."

Source: KnoxNews.com, "Trooper in fiery, fatal crash will get job decision in 10 days," Matt Lakin, Feb. 10, 2012