SHEILA ELLIS
Roanoke Times
Reprinted with Permission

A Franklin County grand jury rejected indictments against the SUV driver involved in the Rocky Mount crash that killed Fire Chief Posey Dillon and firefighter Danny Altice.

Prosecutors had sought indictments against Terry Valentine, 41, of Rocky Mount on charges of vehicular manslaughter, reckless driving and failure to yield.

If more evidence is found, the case could be taken to another grand jury, Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood said.

On July 26, firefighters were responding to a call out of Union Hall. The fire truck did a "rolling stop" at a red traffic light with its sirens sounding and lights flashing, state police said. A 2007 Ford Escape, which had a green light, crashed into the driver's side of the fire truck. The truck, loaded with 1,000 gallons of water, flipped and landed on a Ford Mustang.

Hapgood said that, although state police found the driver had a green light, "it's still the kind of thing that a grand jury needs to look at."

Dillon, 59, and Altice, 67, had a combined 81 years of experience fighting fires.

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