Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 28, 1993 TAG: 9307280049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"It scared me so bad . . . my knees were shaking," she said.
Mundy sped up in hopes of reporting their license-tag numbers to police, but the two cars roared through a red light and disappeared around a curve.
Mundy was one of three witnesses who testified Tuesday that the two cars were racing and driving recklessly minutes before the one driven by 20-year-old John Walton Stover smashed into the back of a third vehicle, killing a 9-year-old boy.
Stover did not testify Tuesday at a preliminary hearing on involuntary manslaughter charges stemming from the June 3 accident.
Substitute Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge John T. Molumphy III ruled there was enough evidence to forward the charges to a Roanoke County grand jury in September.
Stover remains free on bond until a trial this fall.
Roanoke County Commonwealth's F.W. "Skip" Burkart declined to say whether he also would seek charges against the driver alleged to have been racing with Stover.
The other driver was identified Tuesday as Scott Manning of the 200 block of Plymouth Drive in Roanoke. Manning could not be reached for comment.
A Roanoke County police officer testified Tuesday that Stover initially exhibited a "carefree attitude" at the accident scene.
Stover told one officer that the woman driving the other car pulled out in front of him. Stover - wearing shorts, a tie-dyed shirt and no shoes - referred to her vehicle as that "f------ black car," Roanoke County Police Officer John Hoover testified.
Stover shrugged when Hoover asked why he was driving on a license that had been restricted because of a previous drunken driving conviction. "I don't know - stupid, I guess," he said.
Hoover said he finally hammered home the seriousness of the situation by drawing Stover's attention to rescue workers fighting to save the boy's life.
" `Hey, I'm not trying to justify anything,' " Hoover quoted Stover as saying.
Dustin Washburn, a third-grader at Burlington Elementary, died five hours later.
His mother, Robin S. Washburn, cried softly through most of the testimony Tuesday. She was surrounded by more than a dozen friends and family members, many of whom clutched tissues.
John E. Lichtenstein, attorney for Stover, argued that evidence presented Tuesday was insufficient to support involuntary manslaughter charges because there was no testimony on how the accident actually happened.
Burkart contended there was more than enough evidence, including Stover's reckless driving and the fact that he was driving in violation of a restricted license.
The accident, which happened two weeks after another suspended driver killed himself and two other people on Roanoke's Roy Webber Highway, led to a General Assembly committee's consideration of tougher laws to keep suspended drivers off the road.
Stover had just left a beach-music concert at the Valleypointe Corporate Center where, he admitted, he had been drinking beer even though he was under 21. Stover told officers that he had "two or three" beers beforehand and two beers at the concert.
Officers testified that Stover did not appear to be intoxicated and that he passed several field sobriety tests.
When one officer asked Stover in a taped interview if alcohol played a part in the accident, Stover replied, "I'm sure it did."
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB