THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 9, 1995 TAG: 9505090242
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Long : 210 lines
Someone nearly killed Keith Long the summer after his high school graduation.
Someone driving a 1986 Toyota Celica raced through a turn on Mount Pleasant Road just after midnight Aug. 14, 1993.
Someone swerved into the oncoming lane and smashed into the pickup truck Long was driving home.
Someone drove away with two blown tires as Long lost control of the pickup and smashed into another car head-on.
Someone abandoned the wrecked Toyota in a parking lot four miles away as paramedics struggled to free the teenager from the tangle of twisted metal before too much of his blood drained from gaping slashes in his face.
Someone walked away from the parking lot not knowing - or caring - what happened to the 18-year-old Great Bridge High School graduate.
No one was punished. And time is running out.
Because the statute of limitations for lawsuits ends on the two-year anniversary of the crash, Long and his mother, Saundra White, have just three months to find the person responsible.
There is a legal maneuver that could extend the deadline - filing suit against a John Doe - but if the driver hasn't been caught in two years, the family doubts he will be.
The police long ago shelved the search.
The case is one of thousands like it that police in Hampton Roads investigate each year.
``I want someone to come forward and own up to it,'' said Long's mother. ``Somebody out there knows who did this. Maybe somebody has a heart. I just want the person caught, and I want justice done.''
Keith Long, now 20, walks with a limp and suffers from a brain injury. A dozen titanium plates brace the healing bones of his face, wildly contorted from the boyish good looks that beam from his graduation photo.
``To tell you the truth, I feel a lot older than I am,'' Long said.
Just three years into adulthood, Long thinks more like an aging grandfather than someone just beginning his 20s.
He worries about arthritis. He dreads the inevitable surgeries and hospital stays. He is considering bankruptcy to handle the mountain of bills that arrives weekly.
``He's got stuff on his mind that people 65 or 85 have to deal with,'' said his stepfather, Keith White, who reared Long since he was 3. ``A kid 20 years old shouldn't have all those problems.''
And now, Long and his family have exhausted their insurance and personal finances trying to pay $30,000 in outstanding medical bills.
Only one of several doctors who began reconstructing Long's face and legs will still see him. The others quit because their bills have not been paid.
On the rural road near the Virginia Beach line, Keith ``Keiffer'' Long's life forever changed after a night of fun with a friend - on Friday the 13th.
He and a buddy were returning from riding go-carts at a Virginia Beach amusement park. They stopped at his friend's aunt's house, where Long had parked the pickup truck he and his stepfather bought after it had been junked and spent two years painstakingly turning into a bright-red showpiece.
The handsome teenager was beginning the last half of a two-year welding program and had recently lined up a $13-an-hour job.
He remembers the tail lights of his friend's car ahead of him disappearing into the darkness of a winding curve on Mount Pleasant Road. And he remembers no more.
From somewhere, a car without headlights raced through the darkness and slid into the wrong lane.
Within moments, Long was fighting for his life as the car that hit him sped away without stopping, leaving behind a side mirror and part of a wheel.
The red pickup swerved out of control into the oncoming lanes and struck another car head-on. Then the truck glanced into a stand of trees and the second car flipped.
Long's uncle, a member of a Virginia Beach heavy-duty rescue crew, helped cut his nephew from the mangled pickup. But Long's face and truck were so mutilated that the uncle didn't recognize him.
The driver of the second car was also hurt, but not as badly. He was taken to Virginia Beach General Hospital while Long was flown by air ambulance in critical condition to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
For Long, surviving the crash meant 40 days in the hospital and 25 hours in surgery. He lost his right eye, his right kneecap and seven teeth.
The impact shattered both legs, smashed the bones of his face, crushed his right ankle, cracked two ribs and bruised his heart.
``It was bad, really bad,'' Virginia Beach police spokesman Mike Carey said of the accident. The 911 call actually came through Virginia Beach's communications center, but it wasn't until rescue crews arrived that they learned the accident happened just south of the city's border.
Carey, a fatal-accident investigator for eight years, was horrified.
``When you looked at the truck, it looked like a bomb had gone off in it,'' he said. ``Unfortunately, Keith was still in the truck.''
In the 20 months since, Keith Long has slowly healed. But he isn't the same person, mentally or physically, who graduated from high school with a bright smile and brighter future as an aspiring welder, his mother said.
His remaining doctor said Long's injures will severely limit his ability to work.
Even so, Long has been twice denied state disability benefits, and a second appeal is pending. A state disability determination analyst decided Long was not disabled enough to get benefits. Long and his family are awaiting a hearing with a judge.
``I wish we could make them realize we don't want 100 percent benefits or anything,'' Saundra White said. ``We just want some help.''
Help for a son who will have to start over, his family said.
His mother is more vigorous in the pursuit of justice than he is, Long admits. He only wants the ordeal behind him.
``She took the whole thing worse than I have,'' Long said. ``I feel the person who did this will get his, if not now, then later from the man above. He'll make sure he gets his. I just want to put this out of my mind.''
His mother can't.
Her requests to see the case file were denied by Assistant City Attorney Kathleen A. Dooley. Because of that, White says, she still doesn't fully understand what happened to her son that summer night.
She and her husband say they've been kept in the dark. They've molded bits and pieces of information that trickle to them into a belief that the police botched the investigation and are now covering up for someone.
But the police said they explored all avenues and never uncovered enough evidence to charge the person responsible.
The problem is proof, said Detective Tommy Galbreath, the investigator in charge of the hit-and-run case. Knowing something and proving something in court are two different things, he said.
``I have never been so frustrated with a hit-and-run,'' said Galbreath who, along with a partner, works as many as 30 such crashes a month. ``I have a gut feeling who did it, but I haven't been able to prove it. Every detective at one time or another has had that feeling.''
The suspicions, however, extend beyond gut feeling.
Within days of the accident, the search for suspects narrowed to one man.
Police believe the suspect took the car, either with or without permission, from the registered owner, Bobby Calvin Seacrist Sr., of the 4200 block of Beasley Court in Virginia Beach. Seacrist and the suspect are acquainted, police said.
Seacrist, however, told police he didn't know who took his car, and reported it stolen after the accident, Galbreath said. Two messages seeking comment left on Seacrist's answering machine were not returned.
Investigators in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach keyed on these oddities:
According to a police report, Seacrist said his car was unlocked, and an ignition key was left in the center console. Seacrist said he didn't notice his car was gone Friday evening or Saturday morning. He said he learned of its disappearance when police called him nearly 12 hours after the accident.
Galbreath said nothing was reported missing from Seacrist's car when police found it. No other cars in Seacrist's apartment complex were broken into, tampered with or stolen the night his car was taken.
The suspect was returning to Virginia Beach, police said.
The car was reported stolen after the accident. Police said that is an often-used ploy when either an owner or an acquaintance is involved in a hit-and-run accident.
``I'm lost as to what else could have taken place if anyone other than our suspect had the car,'' Galbreath said.
But for every bit of evidence that pointed to the suspect, other bits weren't as conclusive:
No usable fingerprints that matched the suspect were recovered from the car.
Two witnesses failed to identify the suspect in a photo lineup.
The suspect repeatedly has denied to police he was driving the car at the time of the accident. Seacrist hasn't wavered from his original story.
``We never got enough to get an arrest warrant,'' Galbreath said. The investigation has been suspended, meaning it is on hold until something breaks.
``If we find more witnesses to talk to, or more good evidence, we'll gladly go back into it,'' the detective said.
Now, Long spends his time hanging with old friends and members of a CB radio club who are routinely run out of parking lots where they congregate.
Soon, he knows he will have to start his life over. He knows it won't be easy.
``He had it made,'' his mother said. ``And this one person destroyed his life.''
``He lost his start,'' his stepfather said. ``He did good in school. He did good with welding. But his start was really slapped down. He has to begin again.''
Despite his misfortune, Long is thankful his hands and arms were spared, left almost unscathed. With his hands, he said, he will rebuild his life.
``I want to be outdoors; I want to work with my hands,'' he said. ``I've thought about being a sheriff, or a game warden, or a park ranger.
``I feel very fortunate. A lot worse could have happened to me.''
Galbreath said he needs the public's help to reopen the case. He believes the suspect was partying in the Great Bridge area on Aug. 13, 1993. Most likely, the suspect was at a bar, probably the popular Blakely's Restaurant and Lounge, Galbreath guesses.
The suspect was driving a black Toyota Celica with license plates TNE-911.
In the almost two years since the accident, the hit-and-run driver has likely bragged to someone that he got away with it, Galbreath said. If that person comes forward, the case could be cleared, the detective said.
And Long and his family might have the justice they have been seeking.
``I was planning on getting married, buying a house and having kids,'' Long said. ``But I won't be doing that any time soon.
``If I put my mind to it, I suppose I could do lots of things,'' he added. ``But lately, I haven't had much incentive. I'd like to see that guy get found for what he did. I hope they put him in jail so he won't do this to anyone else.'' MEMO: Anyone with information about this accident is asked to call Chesapeake
police at 487-1234. Callers don't have to give their names and don't
have to testify in court. A reward of up to $1,000 is available for
information that leads to an arrest.
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO COURTESY OF LONG FAMILY
[B\W photo]
Keith Long's uncle helped cut him from the pickup. But Long's face
was so mutilated that the uncle didn't recognize him.
Color staff photo by Lawrence Jackson
Keith Long, now 20, walks with a limp and suffers from a brain
injury. A dozen titanium plates brace the bones of his face, healing
from the wreck and contorted from the boyish good looks that beam
from his Great Bridge High School graduation photo, right.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT TRAFFIC INJURIES HIT AND RUN STATUE OF
LIMITATIONS by CNB