Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 6, 1991                   TAG: 9104060341
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR/ STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HIT-RUN LAWSUIT SETTLED/ GIRL'S ESTATE PAID IN W&L INCIDENT

D.E. Scarborough filed suit in January against Charles Blakely Comer, who admitted last year that he killed Scarborough's daughter, Mary Ashley Scarborough, in March 1989.

As administrator of his daughter's estate, Scarborough asked for $5 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages. He also asked to be compensated for the $10,000 in reward money that had been offered for the identity of the hit-and-run driver.

Ronald C. Dilthey, a Richmond lawyer, said no one involved in the case was free to discuss specifics of the settlement.

"But it was settled to the satisfaction of the Scarborough family," he said. "It is somewhat of a meaningful, shallow settlement in that it can't bring back the loss of their daughter. It's not an event that anyone in the Scarborough family is rejoicing about. But the matter was settled and they are relieved that they can go ahead and put as much of this behind them."

Dilthey did say that the settlement was from the Comer family and their insurance carrier.

Comer pleaded guilty in August to involuntary manslaughter and hit and run in the death of Scarborough, who was 19.

His admitted guilt ended an 18-month case for Lexington police. They worked with few clues for eight months after Scarborough's body was discovered on Washington Street near the Police Department about 2 a.m. March 16, 1989.

D.E. Scarborough, a Raleigh, N.C., doctor, charged in his lawsuit that Comer was driving under the influence of alcohol, and that his decision to flee the scene of the accident showed "negligence so gross, wanton and culpable as to show a reckless disregard for human life."

Scarborough had lost another daughter in a 1987 automobile accident in Wake County, N.C. She also was 19.

Scarborough could not be reached for comment Friday.

Last June, Comer was ordered to serve six months in jail. He was released from the Rockbridge County Jail in late September on good behavior after serving about three months. Comer is now a student at the University of Georgia.