A former sheriff says a head-on collision was a ‘blessing in disguise,’ and how he arrested one of America’s most wanted fugitives
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fifteenth in a series about former sheriffs in eastern Idaho.
IDAHO FALLS – Bart May heard a loud bang and saw a flash of light as a vehicle hit him head on at 110 mph along Idaho Highway 33.
It was Dec. 9, 2017 and the now retired Clark County sheriff was on his way to Shop with a Cop in Rexburg. His vehicle came to a stop upside down after it skidded across the highway.
“I was in total darkness hanging upside down in my seatbelt. All I could see was a light on my stereo that kept saying, ‘Please be patient. Dialing 911,'” May says in a 2021 video about the incident, which you can watch above.
May tells EastIdahoNews.com he woke up at his Dubois home that morning and the fog was thick. As a law enforcement officer, it was common practice to wear a ballistic vest during the day. As he left that morning, he knew it was cold and that he’d be wearing his coat. The thought of putting on his vest wasn’t appealing because it was uncomfortable.
Just as he was getting ready to leave, May says he felt a strong impression to put his vest on.
“I turned around and looked at my vest hanging over the chair and I thought, I’m not putting that vest on. I walked down the stairs and as I opened up the door, it opened about two inches and then just stopped. It wouldn’t open anymore, and I heard the words, ‘Put your vest on,'” May recalls.
He put on his vest, got in his truck and left. He turned as he got on the exit for Highway 33, and through the fog, he saw headlights quickly moving toward him.
He initially thought someone was trying to run him off the road. It certainly wouldn’t have been the first time something like that had happened.
“I slowed down and got on the side of the road, and about 500 yards in front of me, she came into my lane doing more than 110 mph,” says May. “She’s the first one I wasn’t able to get away from and everything changed. It killed her instantly.”
RELATED | UPDATE: Victim identified in fatal crash
Idaho State Police later identified the intoxicated driver as 21-year-old Malana Moemberg of Fort Hall.
May says the head-on collision was “amazingly hard,” and flipped his vehicle into the gutter.
When his vehicle came to a stop, he lay there in the darkness with his leg pinned against the dashboard. He couldn’t move. He remembers feeling “a set of arms” coming around the seat and holding him tight.
He couldn’t get his seatbelt unbuckled, so he cut it with his knife. His leg was free at that point and he smacked the window of the driver’s side door with his gun to try and get out. A man who saw the crash came to his aide at that moment to get him out.
Paramedics arrived minutes later and took him to the hospital. May believes the ballistic vest protected him from serious injury.
It’s an experience May now describes as a “blessing in disguise.” Though his life was spared that day, his visit to the hospital made him aware of a medical condition he had that likely would’ve killed him.
He explains how his injuries led him to discover the diagnosis.
“I went to cut my seatbelt off and dropped on my head. That’s what hurt more than anything. I broke my two front teeth and I felt like my head was pushed down into my shoulders,” May explains.
After getting an X-ray, the doctor told him he had two extra bones in his head. After visits with multiple specialists, he learned he had Eagle syndrome. It’s a rare condition where the styloid process — a cylindrical, needle-like ligament between the jaw and the back of the skull — hardens and pinches off the carotid artery and the jugular veins, which stretch from the head to the upper chest.
If left unchecked, May says he would’ve eventually had a stroke and died. He was able to get it surgically removed, preventing any future complications.
“Because of that accident, it was found, and it ended up saving my life,” May says. “I have a whole new outlook on life now.”
The path to law enforcement, becoming sheriff
The 54-year-old retired in 2020 from a 30-year career in law enforcement, 11 of which he served as sheriff. He currently works as the director of emergency services and safety at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls.
May grew up in Medicine Lodge and he’s been an “adrenaline junkie” his entire life. Though that’s ultimately what led him to become a cop, it’s not what he wanted to do originally.
“I always thought I was going to be a helicopter pilot,” May says.
After graduating from high school, he worked at the Phillips 66 gas station in Dubois for a time. Idaho State troopers would frequently stop in and tell stories about their high speed pursuits.
“I thought, Man, here’s a good way to get a lot of adrenaline and do it legally. So I went and put myself through (a law enforcement degree at Idaho State University).”
He started working as a deputy with Clark County Sheriff Craig King in 1989. His first call involved rounding up some stray sheep on Idaho Highway 28.
He gained the confidence of his co-workers and became a patrol deputy right after that. He did that for about two and a half years before taking a job with the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office. May worked in Bonneville County’s narcotics division for a while. Though he enjoyed the experience, he realized it wasn’t conducive to raising a family and decided to go back to Clark County.
When King resigned in 2010, May was appointed as his replacement. He was elected for the first time in 2012.
A federal fugitive shows up in Dubois
While serving as a Clark County deputy in 2004, May played a role in arresting one of the U.S. Marshals’ most wanted fugitives.
Reineir Kraan, a Hawaii man convicted on charges of distributing meth, burglary and possession of explosive devices and firearms, had escaped custody in Hawaii and Las Vegas years before. The Las Vegas Sun reports he was on his way to Canada when he was spotted in Dubois.
Federal authorities informed May he was in Clark County and was armed and dangerous. May remembers Kraan exiting U.S. Highway 20 at the Dubois exit and darting into the convenience store after he saw an ISP trooper.
The state trooper was after him, but May called him off because he was concerned about the safety of those inside the store. At the time, the shop had machetes on display and May was worried about the possibility of Kraan using one of them to take a hostage. That’s not what ended up happening.
“I called my wife and asked her to grab my minivan and a sweatshirt and run it up to me. I was going to pull in and act like I was getting gas and go into the store … and make sure everybody was safe,” says May.
As May pulled in the parking lot, Kraan came out looking over his shoulders and got in his car. May followed him in his patrol vehicle past Kilgore Road, and Kraan pulled into the local motel.
May turned on his lights and held him at gunpoint, using his vehicle as a shield. Using his PA mic, May told Kraan he was under arrest and to put his hands where he could see them.
Captain Mike Courtney with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office was almost stabbed by Kraan more than a decade earlier.
It was November 1990, and Courtney was living in Oahu at the time. He and his buddy had recently graduated high school and they chased him down after Kraan was caught burglarizing a friend’s house. Courtney says Kraan had a screwdriver in his hand, and they pinned him down to avoid being stabbed.
The neighbors surrounded them, and when Courtney and his friend got up, Kraan took off running. Courtney and his friend caught up with Kraan, tackling him.
“He pulled out a pocketknife and I grabbed his arm and we started fighting again. (Kraan) bit my buddy on the arm. The neighbors helped hold him until the police came,” says Courtney.
Courtney later testified at Kraan’s trial.
Kraan escaped during a crash on his way to jail for a separate crime. He’d allegedly been “growing millions of dollars worth of marijuana” in Las Vegas before being caught in Idaho.
‘A career I can … be proud of’
Though May is proud of his accomplishments in law enforcement over the years, it’s incidents like this that he’s happy to have behind him. But there are certain aspects of being sheriff that he misses.
“I miss being an EMT more than I miss being a cop,” says May. “Being able to save a life was something I absolutely loved.”
He speaks highly of current Sheriff Mark McClure, who was appointed to fill a vacancy in Dec. 2022 without any law enforcement experience. He’s enjoyed his association with his colleagues over the years.
RELATED | Clark County appoints U.S. Navy veteran as new sheriff
After his crash in 2017, his perspective on law enforcement is much different than when he started in 1989.
“I’m glad to have made 31 years of a career that I can look back on and be proud of, but would I do it again (if I had the opportunity)? Probably not,” he says. “I missed my oldest son’s first nine birthdays. No matter how many times I told him I would be there, there was always something that pulled me away.”
He’s grateful his life was spared so that he and his wife, Carrie — who serves as the Clark County assessor — could raise their children together.
“I got to watch every one of my children get married. I now have (multiple) grandchildren and I’m looking forward to spending the rest of my life with my wife (and family),” May says in the video through tears.
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