Sioux City Journal

Girls were careful snowmobile drivers, sister says

12:40 PM

Posted: Friday, June 29, 2007

Andrea and Kallie Phillips were responsible snowmobile drivers who wouldn't have been able to jump them onto the road, their older sister testified this morning.

Jenna Phillips said she had never seen her sisters lose control of the machines.

"She was always really careful," Jenna Phillips said of Andrea.

"Did you ever see Kallie lose control of her snowmobile?" attorney Curt Krull asked.

"No," the 19-year-old Phillips said.

Andrea, 13, and Kallie, 10, died along with their passengers Lauren Herbold, 11, and Kylie Koch, 10, in a Dec. 12, 2003, collision with a pickup truck near the Phillips' Pierson, Iowa, farm.

Darwin and Jacklyn Phillips have sued the pickup's driver, Daniel Bouc, for negligence, claiming the accident was his fault. Also named in the suit is Bouc's father, Fred, who owned the pickup.

The Boucs, also from Pierson, deny Daniel, who was 16 at the time, was negligent and claim the collision was the girls' fault because they were in the road. Criminal charges never were filed against Bouc.

An Iowa State Patrol investigation said the girls vaulted into the road in front of Bouc.

"Have you ever seen your sisters jump your snowmobiles?" Krull asked Jenna Phillips.

"No," she said. "They're too heavy. There's no way I could ever jump a snowmobile."

The Bouc's attorney, Alan Fredregill, asked Phillips if the girls ever raced the machines through rows of trees near the road.

Phillips said there were times when she and Andrea would each travel down a row of trees together. Kallie would have been a passenger on some of those occasions, Phillips said.

"So you'd have these little races through the grove of trees, right?" Fredregill asked.

"If you want to call it a race, yeah," Phillips said.

Story Comments

Chris wrote on Apr 8, 2008 10:41 PM:

" "Jumping Snowmobiles"...clearly these state patrol people have gone crazy. I am a relative of the two Phillips sisters and I was there the next day as was the rest of the family. There really wasn't any snow next to the trees that could have made a ramp to jump a street, and with 20 acres worth of farm land behind them,(and another 40 across the street) I doubt that they would ever have done anything like that. I remember because I stood there inside their house watching the last of those tracks end at the street. There was no jump. Now does that mean they weren't out in the street...I can't say they weren't. It was a freak accident. But I do know that on a cold, icy day in December no person should drive at 50+ down a gravel road, especially as they were comming into town where people live. As to the comments that Dar and jackie are trying to vindicate themselves, I invite you to meet them and see how traumatized they are that their two daughters and their friends died in their arms. "

denial wrote on Jul 2, 2007 9:06 AM:

" Every full-size snowmobile manufactured with power enough to carry two passengers can jump onto a road as well as jump over a road entirely. With the absence of criminal charges from the crash investigation, my impression is that the Phillips family is in denial of what this case seems to be, at least empirically: kids were being kids, and they made some poor decisions that resulted in their tragic loss. I sympathize with it. I can't imagine the grief I would feel if I lost either of my two sons. I'm not saying it's the case here, but parents trying to blame others is often a deflection of their own feelings of guilt. It's hard to criticize the suffering, but why are the parents getting off without allegations of negligence? 13 and 10 year old girls driving snowmobiles without adult supervision? If anyone has a criminal or civil case in this mess, it's the parents for the girls who were passengers. "

Sarah wrote on Jun 29, 2007 1:43 PM:

" Not all of the facts are in this, so be careful to judge. "

concerned wrote on Jun 29, 2007 1:11 PM:

" Even if the girls were careful drivers, their age alone could be the deciding factor in wanting to 'ramp' onto the road 'just this once'.......decisions like that are a fact of life for kids who have not matured fully AND even if a 10 and 13 year old ACT grown up, they aren't. Pre-teens have that sense that 'it won't happen to me' and feel they are invinceable.....there is a good chance that is what caused them to be on the road at just the wrong time......a sad situation all around and I would think the Phillips would honor their children rather than be so vindictive!!! "