Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 11, 1992 TAG: 9201110267
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MONICA DAVEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: THAXTON LENGTH: Medium
MAN RUN OVER IN FURNITURE DISPUTE
A Bedford County man is accused of running over a pedestrian with his car after a dispute over a sofa and loveseat, authorities said Friday.Ronald Lee Lacy, 32, was charged with malicious wounding for allegedly running his car over Roy Randolph Karnes Thursday evening, according to State Police Trooper R.L. Johnson.
Karnes, 29, was flown by Life-Guard 10 from Thaxton to Roanoke Memorial Hospital. He was listed in very serious condition in the hospital's intensive care unit Friday, a nursing supervisor said.
Witnesses said Karnes was completely underneath the car after the 6 p.m. incident, Johnson said.
Lacy also was charged in the assault of Ann White with his car during the same incident on a private roadway off Virginia 689, according to records in Bedford County General District Court.
White was treated from the hospital and released after being hit by the car, Johnson said. Reached by phone Friday, White declined to comment on what had happened.
Johnson, who was trying Friday to piece together events that led up to the incident, declined to offer details. It was unclear what Karnes' relationship was to his alleged assailant.
He did say that a civil suit which had been argued Thursday morning in General District Court may have played a role in what happened Thursday night.
Court records show that Lacy and his wife had filed a suit against Robert E. White Jr. claiming that White would not give them back their couch and loveseat.
Robert White is the son of Ann White, Johnson said.
Judge James Farmer decided to make no ruling on the case until Jan. 16, officials said.
Farmer could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon and officials in the General District Clerk's office said they had not heard testimony in the case.
The couch and loveseat in question were worth $150, the court records said.
"Some things had been boiling between these people already," Johnson said. "But [the civil case] probably put the icing on the cake."
Johnson said that all the people involved were acquaintances or related to one another.
Lacy, who does not have a listed phone number, was released from jail on bond Friday. A hearing has been set for Jan. 23.