Forgive me. That req't is fairly recent, not to mention a NY Times ripoff and pain in the ***.
Lawyers Say Man Unaware of Body
SUV Driver Hit Victim, Who Was Then Carried Eight Miles
By Tom Jackman and Ian Shapira
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 2, 2004; Page B04
The driver of a sport-utility vehicle that slammed into the rear of a disabled car on Interstate 95 early Sunday fled in a panic but did not realize he also had struck a man and carried his body for more than eight miles, his attorneys said yesterday.
The incident killed Fitsum Gebreegziabher, 27, of Toronto, who apparently had stopped in the Mixing Bowl area of Springfield with a flat tire. There is no shoulder along the lanes of I-95 just north of the Franconia Springfield Parkway, and he was struck by the SUV about 4 a.m. as he stood behind his 1989 Toyota Camry in the left lane.
Josuel P. Galdino, 25, was behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Montero, with a friend from Pennsylvania alongside him, Galdino's attorneys said. The passenger reported to police that the Camry was stopped with no lights or warning flares and that the Montero was not speeding when it crashed into the rear of the Camry.
"They continued to drive. They were very upset," said Daniel T. Lopez, one of Galdino's attorneys. He said that Galdino thought he might have glimpsed someone behind the Camry but that after the collision, he did not hear or see anyone, and "he didn't feel anything dragging beneath the car," Lopez said.
Gebreegziabher's body was found near Galdino's Lorton townhouse after it apparently became dislodged from the SUV, and at that point, Galdino called police. He was charged with manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and felony hit and run.
Gebreegziabher, a native of Ethiopia who was a Canadian citizen, had been visiting the Washington region and staying at the home of his brother Solomon in Woodbridge for the past two months. He had just graduated from college in Toronto, where he studied electrical engineering.
On Saturday evening, he had sat down for a traditional Ethiopian dinner of engera with Solomon, Solomon's wife, Senait, and their 4-year-old son, Beylul. Afterward, he rented a Scooby Doo video for his nephew, said Senait Gebreegziabher.
She said she went to bed about 10 p.m., woke up Sunday morning and wondered where Fitsum was. Soon after, she said, Fairfax County police knocked on her door and told her what had happened. She said her husband was too distraught to talk about the incident.
Galdino and his friend had been at Nation, a dance club in Southeast Washington, his attorneys said.
"We don't think he was drunk," said Michael C. Sprano, another of Galdino's attorneys, though he declined to give specifics about Galdino's drinking. "I understand why police would make that assumption, but when a car is parked in a lane of travel, in an area with a lot of accidents, sometimes terrible tragedies occur," Sprano said. He said Galdino and his friend were afraid to get out of the Montero in the Mixing Bowl area "and panicked."
Fairfax County police pointed out that anyone involved in a serious accident, with or without an injury, is required to stop at or near the scene.
A Virginia State Police trooper discovered the damaged Camry shortly before 4 a.m. and ordered it towed, said Sgt. Wallace L. Bouldin of the state police. He said there was no indication at the time that anyone had been injured.
Galdino drove the Montero down I-95 and then to the Lorton Station neighborhood, to his townhouse in the 9100 block of Stone Garden Drive. While he was backing up in the predawn darkness to find a parking space in his townhouse complex, Lopez said, Gebreegziabher's body apparently became dislodged from the Montero's grill. Lopez said the body was found about 50 yards from Galdino's house.
Even then, Galdino and his passenger, whom Lopez knew only as Eric, "still didn't see the body until the police came," though police said Galdino reported the body in his 911 call.
Edited, Tue Mar 2 13:24:30 2004 by Atomicflea