Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: The driver of this truck that got stuck in Cottonwood Wash the same night 4-year-old Maci Reed went missing in the wash will have his case heard in Superior Court.
By Jon Johnson
PIMA – A man who police say recklessly drove into a flooded wash the evening first responders were searching for a missing 4-year-old girl will have his case heard in Superior Court.
Kade Alton Good, 36, appeared in front of District 2 Justice of the Peace Wyatt Palmer during a preliminary hearing. The hearing included testimony from first responders who were pulled off of searching for Maci Reed, 4, of Central, who had been swept away by floodwaters the evening of July 22. A community-wide search for Reed located her the morning of July 26 in the Markham Wash area, just north of the Gila River.
Judge Palmer ruled the case against Good be bound over to Graham County Superior Court on the filed charges of endangerment and reckless driving. Good is scheduled to be arraigned and enter an initial plea in Graham County Superior Court on Monday, Sept. 27.
Officers reported that first responders were out searching for Reed when Good said he avoided the emergency vehicles on Highway 70 at the Cottonwood Wash Bridge by turning onto 200 North.
The roadway along 200 North was closed due to running water in Cottonwood Wash, and a Pima firetruck was parked at the eastern entrance. The firefighter described seeing Good’s truck go straight into the wash at about 40 mph. Signs alerting motorists to not enter the wash when flooded and speed limit signs of 20 mph are on both sides of the wash.
The officer advised that rescuers searching for Maci then had to divert to assist Good and his passenger as the truck was stuck and the water level was rising.
The firefighter advised that Good appeared disoriented upon hitting the water and said that Good then began throwing items out of the vehicle and ignored emergency assistance.
The mother of Good’s passenger in the truck that night wrote a letter to the editor stating Good was driving her ill daughter for care in Safford and that he was “desperately trying to get to the medicines and items that he needed to care for my daughter” when he was seen tossing items out of the truck.
A Safford officer assisted at the scene along with a DPS trooper and a deputy with the Graham County Sheriff’s Office. The officer reported the Chevy truck as being submerged to the top of its doors. However, Good and his passenger were non-compliant with officers’ commands. According to the officer’s report, Good was “reluctant to turn the vehicle off” and wanted to call someone to come pull out the truck.
Good and his passenger were ordered out of the truck and were removed through the passenger side window in 5-foot-deep swiftly moving water. The report advised that the water level continued to rise during the rescue. Both Good and his passenger were escorted to safety and the truck was left in the wash.
The Reed family got stuck in Cottonwood Wash roughly a half-mile south of where Good’s truck got stuck. Their crossing was on private property off a farm road, while Good attempted to cross on a town of Pima Road with signs advising against doing so when water is present in the wash.
Good was previously arrested for DUI, DUI-drug, criminal damage, reckless driving, and possession of drug paraphernalia, after he crashed a silver Land Rover SUV into the B&D Air Conditioning building at about 7 a.m. on April 6.
In that crash, witnesses advised the Land Rover was stopped at the intersection when it turned northbound onto 8th Avenue, jumped the curb, and went into the building. Multiple witnesses advised Good still had his foot on the gas well after having crashed through the building and one witness described finding Good unconscious behind the wheel. Charges have yet to be filed in that case.
