ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 2, 1996 TAG: 9605020071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
A Bedford County grand jury will hear malicious wounding charges brought against a Franklin County man accused of a shooting that started a night of violence last February.
On Wednesday, Bedford County General District Judge Jim Updike certified charges of malicious wounding and using a firearm in the commission of a felony against 31-year-old George Arthur English.
English was one of a group of 25 to 30 people who gathered on an unseasonabaly warm Sunday night in February at the parking lot of an abandoned school in an area of Moneta known as "The Ridge."
An apparent argument between friends of drag racers from The Ridge and the county's Body Camp area erupted into violence when a man and woman were shot with a 12-gauge shotgun. David Foxx of Bedford County was shot over the right eye and in the right armpit, and Reva Price of Bedford was shot in the right thigh.
The violence spilled over to Bedford County Memorial Hospital later that night. Two sheriff's deputies were injured while trying to control an unruly crowd largely made up of friends and relatives of the shooting victims.
Cousins Buford and Mickey Crider were convicted Monday of misdemeanor assault and battery charges for attacking Sgts. Ricky Gardner and Rick Wiita of the Bedford County Sheriff's Office.
Buford Crider, who is from Altavista and had originally been charged with threatening Gardner's life, was sentenced to 60 days in jail for a single count of assault and battery.
Mickey Crider of Moneta was sentenced to 12 months in jail for two counts of assault and battery. He was wounded by a shotgun pellet in the fight but did not seek treatment or press charges.
Neither Gardner nor Wiita was seriously injured in the fight.
Another man, Rodney Anthony, 21, of Lynch Station, still faces charges in the aftermath of the hospital fight. He is charged with stealing an emergency radio that a deputy lost during the scuffle. Police believe someone used the radio to taunt officers with fake emergency calls after the fight.
Anthony's trial date has been set for June 12 in Bedford County General District Court.
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB