Columbia City Police Chief Tandy Carter was fired Monday morning, May 10, just before he held a press conference at police headquarters at 11:45 am. In announcing his new unemployment status, Carter was announcing the termination of his investigation of the Benjamin/Rubens collision in the early morning, Wednesday, April 21. The night before the wreck was mayor–elect Benjamin’s opportunity to celebrate with his family and followers his run–off election victory margin of about 2,000 votes, far more than the political pundits predicted.

In the six months before the election Benjamin worked tirelessly at both making a lawyer’s living and making a go of it for the mayor’s office. In the few days before the election Benjamin worked close to exhaustion, then savored his triumph following the returns. The morning after, as could be expected with anyone on such a schedule, he was probably worn out.

In investigating the morning–after car accident, Carter always said, “We’re not investigating Benjamin. We’re investigating the accident.”

Now that Carter’s investigation has been passed to his successor for continuation and conclusions, questions still linger. And some questions may not be answered unless they’re asked with some emphasis. In no particular order of emphasis, the following six items are worrisome at the least.

(1) How can someone, anyone, start a car at night in the Hilton garage, facing a railing or a wall or another car, and fail to see that the headlights were not on? How can someone pull out of the well–lighted garage into the dark of night onto Park Street around 5:30 am in mid–April and fail to see the headlights were not on? Having driven to Gervais Street, turned right and proceeded east up past the Capitol grounds, how could the driver not see the headlights were not on? By the time Benjamin’s car approached the intersection of Gervais and Pickens, he had driven eight blocks, four–fifths of a mile, more than 4,000 feet. How could he not see his lights were out? Just how distracted was he? Was there a replay of the night’s cell phone messages running for the length of the trip since leaving the Hilton garage? Or were the head lights, in fact, turned on? Science and technology can easily answer the head lights and cell phone question, but why haven’t we heard?

(2) At that level of distraction, a condition where Benjamin reportedly didn’t know his headlights were still not on, could Benjamin miss the light at the intersection of Gervais and Pickens? Could he fail to see he was entering an intersection through a red light? Any witnesses?

(3) There’s only one witness, apparently, to the green/red status of the intersection’s light, and she’s in the hospital in an uncertain recovery. Until Deborah Rubens recovers to the point she can be interviewed for her recall of the intersection condition that morning, the color of the traffic light remains in question.

(4) Where is Rubens’s employee parking space? Was

she taking a right turn on red, as said repeatedly in The

State, or was she crossing Gervais Street to get to her parking space in the Clarion hotel employee lot at the northeast corner of the intersection? Did she have the green light to cross the street as she had been doing routinely to get to work for the past 10 years?

(5) How fast was Benjamin going? Seen the damage to the Rubens’s car? How fast does that indicate?

(6) When is all this due for answers and final determination? What does Carter know for sure? At what point do the citizens of Columbia have the right to know?