ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9603040116
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER
Blacksburg police are still trying to piece together what happened in a Holiday Inn parking lot early Saturday, where three men apparently were struck by a car intentionally.
Three men were injured and others jumped out of the way as a driver appeared to aim for pedestrians at random, Lt. Marty Hauschildt said.
It was like "bowling for people last night," he said.
Police charged Robert L. Dowdy, 33, of Blacksburg with three counts of malicious wounding after witnesses at the scene said they saw him hit the pedestrians.
"He wasn't just driving recklessly, he was driving toward them," Hauschildt said. The victims were standing in different parts of the parking lot when they were hit.
Dowdy told police he didn't remember hitting anyone. Hauschildt said the man had been drinking.
The incident started just before 2 a.m. as people were leaving the hotel bar. Police said there was no indication Dowdy knew any of the men that were struck, and the men didn't know each other.
Hauschildt said police are still investigating and believe there might have been an altercation earlier at another Blacksburg bar.
The victims were Billy Bishop, 39, of Christiansburg; Brett Gill, 23, of Pilot; and Shawn Reppert, 25, of Floyd. Bishop and Gill received only minor injuries, but Reppert suffered a compound fracture of his lower leg.
Dowdy is being held at the Montgomery County Jail on $75,000 bond.
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