ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 9, 1997 TAG: 9702100062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MANASSAS
SOURCE: Associated Press
Prosecutors have dropped charges against a father whose rush-hour duel with another driver left his 3-year-old daughter gravely injured.
Charges against the other driver were not withdrawn.
Robert Finck and the other driver, Fred Hamilton Jr., both faced reckless driving charges for a Nov. 20 crash on Interstate 95. Finck's daughter, Brenna, was critically injured when the family's sport/utility vehicle flipped over in morning traffic.
``His conduct was reprehensible. I'm not sure it's criminal,'' Prince William County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Scott Bailey said Friday of Finck.
Bailey said police couldn't find eyewitnesses to the confrontation near Dumfries and were left with one driver's word against the other's. Finck's account was more credible, Bailey said.
If additional witnesses come forward to implicate Finck, the reckless driving charge could be reinstated, Bailey said.
``We're really just holding it in abeyance,'' he said. The misdemeanor charge carries up to one year in jail.
Prosecutors decided to drop another misdemeanor charge of improperly restraining a child because of confusion over whether the girl was in or out of her child safety seat. Police first said she was not restrained, but now believe she was in her seat and the seat or seat belt may have malfunctioned, Bailey said.
At least one witness said the girl was hanging from the truck window after the crash.
``We think that was incorrect,'' Bailey said.
Brenna remains at a Charlottesville rehabilitation hospital with serious spinal and other injuries. Finck's lawyer, William Stephens, would not comment on the girl's prognosis.
``The family is very grateful for all the prayers and good wishes that have come in, and continue to hope for the best,'' Stephens said. ``From where she was, I think she has made progress.''
Finck and his wife, Sandra, refused comment as they left Prince William General District Court.
Finck, 37, and Hamilton, 20, both appeared briefly before Judge Lon E. Farris, who appointed a lawyer for Hamilton and set a March 7 court date.
Hamilton, of Locust Grove, left the courthouse without commenting.
Finck maintained that Hamilton's car cut him off. Hamilton told police Finck was the aggressor.
``The trooper found that Mr. Hamilton made an unsafe lane change'' that set off the confrontation, Stephens said after the hearing.
State police reported Hamilton cut in front of Finck as Finck and his wife and daughter were headed from their home in Fredericksburg to work in Woodbridge.
Hamilton then slowed, and Finck flashed his lights in warning or anger, police said. Finck then changed lanes and pulled abreast of Hamilton, and the two men exchanged rude hand gestures, police and Finck's lawyer said.
``Flicking your lights or making hand gestures may be impolite at worst. I don't know that it is a crime,'' Stephens said.
Hamilton then weaved and dodged in his own lane, boxed in by traffic and unable to pass Finck, police said. As he jockeyed for position, Hamilton struck the rear corner of Finck's vehicle.
Finck's car spun out of control, hit another car and flipped several times before landing in the median.
Robert and Sandra Finck, and a 49-year-old passenger in the third car, William Valvo of Newport News, were treated for minor injuries at Potomac Hospital and released.
Hamilton was uninjured.
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