Testimony in day care crash trial: 'Chaos, debris everywhere'
By Jeff Weiner, Staff Writer
When Robert Corchado rear-ended a Toyota Solara in April, he did not stop to help or call 911 to summon rescuers as the car's driver lost control, driving into Goldenrod Road KinderCare, prosecutor Ryan Williams told a jury Thursday morning.
Instead, the prosecutor said in his opening statement, Corchado used his phone to initiate a cover-up. Corchado's first call was "not to 911, not to law enforcement," but to a body shop, Williams said.
Then, he called his mother.
"He told her that he loved her, and 'I need you to report the Durango stolen,'" Williams told Corchado's jury, which began hearing testimony in the April 9 crash that killed 4-year-old Lily Quintus and injured a dozen others.
The trial began Monday, and is expected to run into next week.
He faces seven charges, including with leaving the scene of a fatal crash and heroin trafficking.
Authorities say he was driving a Dodge Durango full of drugs when he hit the Solara on Goldenrod Road, fleeing as the car plunged into the day care.
"He told her that he loved her, and 'I need you to report the Durango stolen,'" Williams told Corchado's jury, which began hearing testimony in the April 9 crash that killed 4-year-old Lily Quintus and injured a dozen others.
The trial began Monday, and is expected to run into next week.
He faces seven charges, including with leaving the scene of a fatal crash and heroin trafficking.
Authorities say he was driving a Dodge Durango full of drugs when he hit the Solara on Goldenrod Road, fleeing as the car plunged into the day care.
"I was in the far right hand corner, giving (an) extra snack out because the boys had asked me... and I heard a loud boom," KinderCare teacher Donna Brashears testified Thursday.
The room exploded. Suddenly, she was pinned in a corner. Some children were pinned with her, others were under the car.
Freed by a coworker, she began rescuing the kids. Brashears performed CPR on Lily until paramedics arrived: "She took a couple breaths between the compressions... and I thought that was a good sign," she said.
Brashears tearfully described the scene as "chaos, debris everywhere." KinderCare parent and Colonial High School science teacher Casey Calhoun, described it as "devastation... Everything was destroyed."
The Solara's driver, Albert Campbell, testified he was turning off Goldenrod to drop his wife at her office near the day care, when he saw the SUV, dangerously close.
Campbell said accelerated slightly, "just a very little bit," trying to get out of the way — but was struck anyway. Campbell said he hit the brake and tried to steer away from the building, but the controls didn't respond.
Florida Highway Patrol investigators have tested the car and found no errors, but he maintained he did not hit the wrong pedal: "I hit the brakes. I took my foot and I hit the brakes."
Corchado's defense lawyer, Daniel Tumarkin, told jurors the collision of the SUV and Solara was minor. Either Campbell hit the gas and not the brake, or the car malfunctioned, he said.
The Solara "was not propelled into the day-care center," he said.
Prosecutors will have to prove Corchado knew, or should have known, the severity of the crash. That was Tumarkin's focus.
"There's no way anybody knew or could know or should have known… the horrible, tragic consequences," Tumarkin said.
He grilled state's eyewitnesses, getting one to waver on a key detail: whether Corchado sped off before, or after, the Solara hit the day care. But another, Dennis Dickquist, said Corchado seemed to be stopping — until the car drove into KinderCare.
"I thought he was going to pull over and I was surprised that he didn't," Dickquist said.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-robert-corchado-trial-day-care-crash-20141204-story.html
