LOUISVILLE (WHAS11) – The man facing charges in the death of an LMPD officer was found to have a narcotic in his system during a deadly crash involving LMPD Detective Deidre Mengedoht on Christmas Eve in 2018, according to a Jefferson Commonwealth attorney.
Roger Burdette, a former MSD employee, was driving an MSD truck at the time of the crash. Thirty-two-year-old Deidre Mengedoht was conducting a traffic stop when she was hit.
According to a toxicology report, former MSD employee Roger Burdette had hydrocodone in his system.
Burdette’s bond was also reduced on Feb. 22. It was changed from $200,000 to $65,000 with release to HIP.
Roger D. Burdette is charged with one count of murder, four counts of wanton endangerment, operating a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicants and failure to give right of way to a stopped emergency vehicle.
The wanton endangerment charges result from the fact that the crash also threatened death or serious physical injury to the four occupants of the motor vehicle Mengedoht had stopped.
Burdette did fail a field sobriety test on the day of the crash, his arrest report states he could not keep his balance and had difficulty following the officer's instructions during the test. He had admitted to officers that he had taken multiple prescription drugs on the scene of the crash.
Mengedoht was buried on Dec. 31, 2018. Her family sued MSD and Burdette, claiming that not only did Burdette show gross negligence in the crash, but MSD showed negligent in its duties to supervise, train and retain its employee.
Burdette pleaded not guilty to the charges he is facing on Feb. 18.
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