WEST HAVEN -- It's been more than a week since Ron and Carrol Brown's 30-year-old son was killed in a motorcycle crash, but even after laying their son to rest, the couple is grappling with unanswered questions about their son's case.
The fatal crash occurred at 11:29 p.m. April 7. Zackary Graham Brown was traveling south on 1900 West and was struck by a vehicle coming from the opposite direction that was turning west onto Midland Drive.
The driver of the car, identified as Melissa Marie Chipp, 20, told deputies she never saw Brown's 2005 Harley Davidson approaching the intersection until the two collided. Brown was going through a green light and the speed limit in the area is 50 miles per hour.
Paramedics worked on Brown at the scene, but he died while being transported to the hospital. The Browns held a funeral for Zackary on Monday. Carrol Brown said the family is not yet ready to talk about their son's death, but that they would release a brief statement expressing their frustration.
"It was a tragedy, especially since he was doing everything right," the family's statement reads. "He was wearing a helmet, gloves, leather jacket and boots. His bike had high intensity headlights and a very loud muffler. You would have to have been deaf and blind not to see him on a road."
The 2000 Hyundai Elantra involved in the crash is registered to James Chipp, the driver's father and a retired captain with the Weber County Sheriff's Office, the same agency investigating the crash.
The Browns say the probe of the fatal accident should have been handled by another jurisdiction.
Sheriff's Capt. Klint Anderson said deputies on the scene did not personally know the former captain or that the woman involved in the crash was related to him.
"We found out a couple of hours later, well into the investigation," of the link between the two, Anderson said, adding that then-Capt. Chipp worked in corrections, not the patrol division.
Anderson said he is working to address concerns the family may have, and at their request, is checking into cell phone records to see if Melissa Chipp may have been distracted at the time of the crash.
Chipp has been charged with a misdemeanor count of failure to yield, but more charges could come if evidence suggests she was distracted or impaired in some way, Anderson said.
Authorities say the investigation suggests Chipp was not impaired at the time of the crash, but the Browns are frustrated that a blood test to determine whether drugs or alcohol were involved was not done on Chipp, which is a standard in fatal crashes.
Anderson said deputies did not take blood from Chipp on the scene, as Brown was still alive and it was not then classified as a fatal crash. It was either on the way to the hospital or shortly after arrival that Brown was pronounced dead.
The Brown family wants the crash investigation turned over to another agency. Anderson said the sheriff's office is considering submitting the case to another department for review, but that the investigation will remain with his department.
In the meantime, the Browns are asking motorists to be more aware of motorcyclists. The family handed out bumper stickers that read "Start Seeing Motorcycles" during their son's funeral.
Brown, who was born in Germany and served as a security policeman with the U.S. Air Force, leaves behind a 3-year-old daughter.
Donations to help the family can be made to a memorial account that has been set up at Golden West Credit Union in the name of his daughter, MaKayla Brown.
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