IOWA CITY, IA — There’s no knowing whether 61-year-old bicyclist William Ralph Perkins had ever heard of the Girls Gone Wild video series before its tour bus slammed into him — but chances are slim he’ll ever forget about it.Perkins underwent surgery last Wednesday for critical injuries sustained the previous evening when he spend 20 minutes with his torso and legs pinned beneath the right front wheel of the bus after he turned right on a Iowa City street and was struck by the bus.
Firefighters were able to extract him after using two box cribs and air bags to raise the bus several inches. Authorities have not released details about the man’s condition and are waiting until they have had a chance to speak with him before deciding whether or not to file charges.
Iowa City Police Department collision reconstructionists continue to piece together what happened to cause the accident, which did not injure anyone on the bus, including its 33-year-old driver, Richard David Tyner.
The tour bus was in town as part of its national tour of college campuses. Bill Horn, a representative for Mantra Films, Inc., which is responsible for the controversial and wildly popular softcore series, claims that he has heard nothing about the accident and has no comment at this time.
Elsewhere in Girls Gone Wild excitement, Circuit Judge Dedee Costello has determined that hundreds of hours of videotape previously seized by authorities in 2003 in response to accusations that two underage girls appeared on a video cannot be used in the court case against producer Joseph Francis.
The videos, part of 700 items taken from Francis’ condominium when he was arrested after two 17-year-old girls claimed that they had been videotaped in sexual situations for a Girls Gone Wild release, were to be used by prosecutors who hope to show that Francis and his company intentionally sought out minors.
Costello granted the defense team’s request to suppress the information based on the fact that search warrants used were not specific about what items deputies were seeking. Francis’ attorneys claim that “the searches of the Girls Gone Wild condo units were part of a pre-planned, contrived effort on the part of law enforcement to search for and seize every asset, videotape, t-shirt, and scrap of paper in the possession of Girls Gone Wild.“
The case will be heard later this year. If convicted, Francis — who, along with his company, faces 42 charges — could face decades in prison.
