BATTLEFIELD, Mo. -- The reconstruction report for an accident that killed a Greene County sheriff's deputy says Ebenezer volunteer firefighter Joshua Douglas could have prevented the crash if he'd used more caution. Douglas failed to stop at a stop sign on Oct. 6 and collided with the patrol car of Deputy Gary McCormack just south of Ebenezer, about 10 miles north of Springfield. McCormack was seriously injured.

The Ebenezer fire chief declined to discuss the report on Monday. Battlefield Fire Chief Jerry Sparkman says the report hasn't caused his department to change its rules about responding but reinforced the importance of the rules his firefighters already follow.

Animation released by the Missouri State Highway Patrol shows trees and brush blocked the views of both emergency responders. The patrol's report says the crash was a "direct result of" the firefighter "not stopping or slowing for the stop sign as necessary for safe operation."

"The purpose of a reconstruction is not necessarily to pinpoint fault or civil liability, but to try to reproduce and present to those who are going to make critical decisions, what took place just prior to the impact," said Lt. Terry Moore, a spokesman for the Highway Patrol's Troop D.

Knowing what happened doesn't change how Battlefield firefighters respond to emergencies, but reestablishes the rules.

"Even though the state law says you can proceed, knowing the only way to be safe, the only way to know, is to actually stop your vehicle and then proceed," said Sparkman.

The report also shows Douglas had been a firefighter for only four months at the time of the crash, and got his permit to have lights and sirens on his personal vehicle less than a month before the crash.

"I know, when I was a lot younger, the first few calls I got, yes, the adrenaline was flowing, and I had been a deputy sheriff for four years, so I should have gotten over it, but I hadn't," Sparkman said. "I don't know this gentleman that well to say that it did in this case."

Sparkman just hopes everyone will learn from the tragedy and remember.

"They were both responding to help another person, and they were doing the best to get there," he said.

It'll be up to Greene County's prosecuting attorney to decide whether charges should be filed.