00:00This is really tragic, but John Elway, one of his best friends, died after a horrific golf cart accident.
00:10John was at the wheel, and I want to say very quickly, there is no evidence he did anything wrong, but there is now a police investigation.
00:18Right, an investigation because Jeff Spurbeck passed away early this morning, 1.10 a.m. is what the listed time of death is.
00:28This accident actually happened on Saturday evening, and we told you about this, but they had been keeping Jeff on life support while they were preparing for organ donation, and then early this morning, finally that process was done, and he passed away at 1 o'clock in the morning.
00:49We'd actually been told for two days that this was just a matter of time.
00:52Right, and the family was prepared for this, but now the investigation.
00:57So we should explain kind of the background here.
00:59So on Saturday, last Saturday, John and Jeff, their wives.
01:06And John's son.
01:07And John's son apparently had gone to Stagecoach to see a couple of shows, then came back to where they live, or one of them lives, and they went to a party in this private country club.
01:22Yes, the Madison Country Club out in Palm Springs.
01:25Then they all got in a golf cart to go to the home where they were staying, and something happened.
01:31Jeff was on the back of the golf cart standing and somehow lost his balance, and as the golf cart was moving, he careened off the golf cart and was bouncing on the asphalt and sustained catastrophic head injuries.
01:46Right, and witnesses there say, you know, that John was immediately on the phone, called 911, and paramedics got there, were told, within about five minutes.
01:59And Jeff was rushed to the hospital, but they were not able to save him.
02:05The injuries were that traumatic.
02:06The police are now investigating, obviously because there is a death that is involved, but the police were not there on the evening of the accident.
02:16And the reason they weren't there that night is because Stagecoach was going on.
02:21There were obviously thousands and thousands of people there, and the drill was that the sheriff's department, which covers this area, all of the officers were over at Stagecoach.
02:32And when a 911 call came in, during the Stagecoach performances, unless it was an apparent crime, they didn't respond.
02:41They might have responded otherwise, but they didn't hear.
02:45So that's kind of why the paramedics came, and oftentimes, I'm sure you've seen sometimes the police accompany, they didn't hear.
02:53Right. And so the sheriff's department was not there, but we're told they're now, in the process of gathering information, that they did not get that evening, talking that they will speak to the witnesses.
03:06And we should say, aside from Jeff and John's family, the five people who were there on the golf cart, there was this big party not far from where the accident happened.
03:16Right, right.
03:16And there were people in the neighborhood who did witness this, so I'm sure police will be talking to them as well.
03:22You just, I think you have to wonder, Charles, what the investigation looks like now.
03:26Obviously, the police are at a disadvantage here because, and I'm not suggesting that John Elway did anything wrong here,
03:33but if they were at the scene and if there was anything that they had questions about, they obviously could have addressed it then.
03:39If they wanted to take his blood alcohol level, they could have done those things.
03:42Obviously, now, days have passed, and that's not an option anymore.
03:46Yeah, that's off the table.
03:47From what we have heard, the one reason why the police would want to get information here is that if there was going to be any,
03:56if there was going to be a legal situation going forward, lawyers would want to look at police reports.
04:02I don't think, Mike, correct me if I'm wrong, but from what we have heard from people involved here,
04:07this isn't a situation where the families are upset that Jeff's family is not upset with John.
04:14No.
04:14They are very dear friends and have been for decades.
04:17Right.
04:17I mean, John was almost like a second father to Jeff's kids.
04:20That's how much they were in each other's lives, and I've talked to people, and they, yeah,
04:23they're not blaming John Elway at all here, Charles.
04:25They know, they say John is absolutely devastated over this, and they've got a lot of love for him.
04:30No animosity at all.
04:31Yeah, and as for what you said about the police, you know, a lot of times the police aren't going to do an investigation
04:37just in case there's a civil lawsuit.
04:40They don't get involved in that.
04:41In fact, you often hear where a police officer might come out and say this is a civil matter,
04:47and they don't even take a report.
04:49So it's not clear exactly why they have launched an investigation.
04:54They're saying it's not a criminal investigation, but that's generally the only kind of investigation
05:00the law enforcement does.
05:04I don't know what that would be.
05:05Maybe they just want to check to see, you know, possible, I don't know, reckless driving.
05:09I have no idea.
05:11But the point being that if they're, they want to make sure that there wasn't some criminal.
05:16That's right.
05:17I think that's what's going on.
05:18Hi, this is Brandi Blanton from New Coral, Ohio, and I just think this whole thing is just tragic.
05:24I mean, just to be with friends, having, you know, a fun weekend, and then this horrible accident happens
05:29that has now resulted in a death, it's just a terrible situation for everyone involved.
