3/5/2023 0 Comments Webber falls ok bridgeKnowing so much about a real one – one who may have been carrying classified documents with him on his journey – is uncanny. What was Clark doing in Las Cruces, not far from sensitive government research facilities? Why not Missouri plates? Impersonating an officer is one thing. A check of the registration gave a Las Cruces, N.M. WAS CLARK A “TRACKER?” Did Clark and Clements know each other from somewhere? Or was Clark “tailing” Clements as he made his long road journey? Prior to his arrest, Clark had been reported driving a 1985 powder blue Ford Mustang with New Mexico license plates. In another strange twist in the mystery of what really happened, CPT Clements was the only one of 14 victims in the bridge collapse to have died – according to an autopsy by the Oklahoma state medical examiner – of “blunt head trauma.” All the others were listed as killed by drowning. His wife had the family BMW while Clements was traveling cross-country in a new silver Honda Odyssey van. The father of four owned a new home in nearby Woodbridge, Va. Army Test and Evaluation Command in Alexandria, Va. According to an Army spokesperson, the captain was traveling to his new assignment with the U.S. WORKED IN ARMY ACQUISITIONS CPT Clements, a 1991 West Point graduate and former enlisted man, had just earned his master’s degree in systems acquisitions from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. Lottie Hufford, a local resident who helped with the rescue attempts, told investigators she saw the Green Beret impostor leave the area with at least three file folders under his arm. He carefully checked the laptop, examined Clement’s identification “dog tags,” and when he was done, told Mayor Jewell he wanted the items locked in a safe, with him the only one having access. Eyewitnesses said the phony “Green Beret” took the material into the office of a nearby restaurant and spread out papers and documents to dry on top of a desk. LOOKING AT THE LAPTOP AND BRIEFCASE Rescue workers told police that Clark was intent on searching the contents of Clement’s briefcase and looking through his laptop computer, recovered from the murky waters by a local fisherman. James told police that at the time Clark named the dead captain, no one knew who had been killed in the ten submerged vehicles that drove off the severed bridge span. Clements, 34, had been driving cross-country from California to his new assignment in Alexandria, Va. Army CPT Andrew Clements, the only service member of the 14 people who died in the bridge collapse. She cited Clark’s foreknowledge of the name and rank of U.S. HOW DID HE KNOW? “He knew way too much too early,” said suspicious nurse Melanie James, who’d volunteered to help at the riverfront. One observer said the bogus captain had his act “down pat” even to the point of the close-cropped haircut, spit-shined boots and military manner. “He didn’t stick around long after that.” But in the two days he was at Webber Falls, Clark was a highly visible presence, “playing the part” to the hilt, even giving interviews to local media. Mayor Jewell Horne said Clark took control of rescue and recovery efforts and insisted he was “in charge.” “I told him the next day he was NOT in charge, unless we were under martial law,” the mayor recalled. Rescue workers said Clark showed up at the scene of the bridge collapse on Route 40 in Webbers Falls, Okla., two hours after the accident occurred, claiming to be an Army officer from Fort Carson, Colo.
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