|
Driver deliberately
hit cyclist, jury told
By Kirsten Scharnberg
Chicago Tribune, November 28, 2001
During the opening day of a murder trial in which a Chicago man is accused
of running over a bike messenger in a fit of road rage, prosecutors carried
the mangled bicycle into the courtroom and painted a horrific image of the
defendant's vehicle speeding away from the crash with the bike still underneath
it, metal grinding and sparks flying.
In her opening statement Tuesday, Assistant State's Atty. Lynda Peters said
Carnell Fitzpatrick, 31, had been driving east in the 5300 block of Washington
Boulevard on the morning of April 26, 1999, when he intentionally chased
down and smashed into cyclist Thomas McBride, 26, because the two had earlier
nearly collided at an intersection a few blocks away.
Peters alleged that Fitzpatrick fled the scene, pulled into an alley and
peeled the bike from under his sports utility vehicle, then tossed it aside
and "sped off as Tom McBride lay dying on the street."
"This was not an accident," the prosecutor told the jury. "It was a deliberate
and purposeful act."
Fitzpatrick sat quietly at the defense table throughout the day, occasionally
whispering to his lawyers. In his opening statement, Fitzpatrick's attorney
approached the jury and admitted that his client had been driving the car
that struck and killed McBride.
"There's no doubt that he drove the vehicle that killed the deceased," veteran
defense attorney Sam Adam said. "This is not a whodunit. The question is
did he intend to? This is a tragedy that occurs every day in our country--it
was an accident."
The prosecution called three witnesses Tuesday who had been on Washington
the morning Fitzpatrick's 1997 Chevy Tahoe collided with McBride's bike.
Tyrone Hibbler, an insurance agent from the western suburbs, testified that
he and his wife had seen a dark green SUV "jumping from lane to lane" behind
a "kid on a bike."
Hibbler told the jury he had turned to his wife and said, "Why's that guy
messing around with that kid like that? It looks like a dangerous game."
Hibbler said that after a few blocks of swerving behind the bike, the Tahoe
sped up and ran over the biker. He said the vehicle then sped off, leaving
McBride's "lifeless" body sprawled along the curb.
A second man testified that when he saw the green Tahoe leave the scene of
the accident, he followed it for several blocks. Linnell Dixon said the Tahoe
stopped in a nearby alley, and a man emerged to pull the bike from under
the vehicle. Before the Tahoe drove away Dixon jotted its license plate number,
which prosecutors say matches the number on a second license plate found
at the scene.
The third eyewitness the prosecution called to the stand turned out to be
far less willing to talk about what he had seen. Jerry Carter III, who had
been jogging along Washington that April morning, initially refused to testify
until a visibly annoyed Judge Kenneth Wadas ordered him to do so.
Once on the stand, Carter recanted statements he made to police, prosecutors
and a grand jury.
He denied saying he had seen the first near-collision between Fitzpatrick
and McBride. He said he couldn't recall telling the grand jury that he had
heard McBride curse at Fitzpatrick. And he said he didn't remember telling
the grand jury that Fitzpatrick had seemed to speed up and deliberately hit
McBride.
Carter, in a nearly inaudible voice, testified that he had given "contrary"
statements in the initial days following the accident because he had been
angry with Fitzpatrick for leaving the scene of the accident.
Peters seemed incredulous as Carter revised his grand jury description of
the collision, changing it from a deliberate hit to "an accidental bump."
"So you're calling when the car hit the man, crushed the bike and left him
unconscious by the side of the road `a bump?'" the prosecutor asked.
"Yes," Carter said quietly.
Click here for
more coverage of McBride's killer's trial
|
|
