Opinion ID: 1632489
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Lay Testimony Regarding the Accident

Text: As both vehicles proceeded south on Highway 37, Toby Scott was riding in the front passenger seat of Wade Sonnier's pick-up truck. As a result, Toby Scott was able to testify that Wade Sonnier reached a speed of 65 miles per hour in the truck after leaving the parking lot. Thereafter, while en route on the two lane highway, Mr. Cockerham passed Wade Sonnier's pick-up truck. Toby Scott estimated Mr. Cockerham's speed during this passing maneuver as approximately 90 miles per hour. Toby Scott indicated that he thought Mr. Cockerham was showing off and trying to impress the truck's occupants when he passed their vehicle. Keith Cockerham testified that once they left the parking lot in Mr. Cockerham's car, Mr. Cockerham caught up to Wade Sonnier's truck and passed the truck going 100 miles per hour. Keith Cockerham indicated that he saw Mr. Cockerham's car speedometer in confirming the speed. Mr. Cockerham was unable to testify as to the speed of his car during his passing of Wade Sonnier's pick-up truck because he claimed that he could not remember anything about the accident or events leading up to the accident after everyone left the convenience store's parking lot. Joshua Forbes testified that he does not recall Mr. Cockerham's driving speed after leaving the parking lot. Once Keith Cockerham realized the speed at which Mr. Cockerham was driving, Keith Cockerham yelled at Mr. Cockerham to slow down. Keith Cockerham stated that Mr. Cockerham took his foot off the gas pedal in response but continued to drive well in excess of the road's 45 miles per hour speed limit. Keith Cockerham further testified that, while driving south on Highway 37, Mr. Cockerham was also straightening out the curves in the road by driving in the opposing, northbound lane of the two lane highway as he approached each curve. Mr. Cockerham drove through five curves before coming to the accident site. Joshua Forbes testified that he does not recall whether Mr. Cockerham was straightening out the curves as he drove south on Highway 37. Mr. Cockerham testified that he does not remember how he was driving once he left the parking lot. Keith Cockerham testified that Mr. Cockerham was driving 60 to 65 miles per hour as he came upon a straight-a-way just south of the fifth curve in the highway that he had just traversed. Keith Cockerham stated that after reaching the straight-a-way following the curve he felt the car kind of shift, not a slide all the way over, you know, just a little shift like it had hit something in the road. [2] Keith Cockerham further testified at deposition, read into the trial record in connection with an expert's testimony, that he was leaning forward and [Mr. Cockerham] hit the pothole in the road, and going that fast in the little car, [Mr. Cockerham] couldn't handle it, and he cut this way, indicating in parenthesis, and then came back around here, indicating again, and down in the ditch [we]went. [3] Keith Cockerham stated that after Mr. Cockerham's car went into the ditch, the car hit a tree, and he believes the roof of the car caved in. Keith Cockerham testified that he lost consciousness. When he regained consciousness, Keith Cockerham discovered he was the only person remaining in the car. Keith Cockerham exited the car by crawling through a hole in the rear window glass and, once free of the car, walked towards Wade Sonnier's pick-up truck parked near the accident site. Joshua Forbes testified that he remembers Mr. Cockerham's car traveling around the fifth curve and then kind of hitting what I felt like was a bump in the road. The car kind ofit felt like we ran over some kind of hole or something and then the car veering off the road. [4] Joshua Forbes next remembers being in the roadway outside of the car and seeing headlights approaching him. Joshua Forbes testified that he does not remember anything after seeing the headlights until waking up in the hospital two months later. Toby Scott testified that once Mr. Cockerham passed Wade Sonnier's pick-up truck, he lost sight of Mr. Cockerham's car. Just as they were coming around a curve, Toby Scott testified that he saw broken glass and pieces of blinkers, speaker, and door panels in the road ahead. As Wade Sonnier's pick-up approached the debris, Toby Scott and Wade Sonnier realized a person might be on the road. Toby Scott testified that Wade Sonnier swerved in an attempt to steer around the person but that the passenger side of the pick-up truck hit the individual on the road, later determined to have been Joshua Forbes. Sherry Dickerson testified that she was traveling south on Highway 37, from her father's home located north of Fleniken's Store towards her house, when she passed the store and saw people she knew in the parking lot. [5] After passing the store and driving a short distance, she noticed Mr. Cockerham's car in her rear view mirror just as Mr. Cockerham was coming around a curve behind her. Sherry Dickerson stated that she continued to watch Mr. Cockerham's car through her rear view mirror as Mr. Cockerham approached the site where the accident occurred. She could tell that Mr. Cockerham's car was out of control by this time because its headlights were not right. They wereyou could tell from looking in your rear view mirror, and that's all I seen was that the car was not straight on the road. The car waslights were just every which way. [6] Sherry Dickerson stated that she watched Mr. Cockerham's car go off the road and into the ditch and that she quickly turned her car around and went back to the accident site. She parked and immediately saw Joshua Forbes in the roadway. Sherry Dickerson went to Joshua Forbes' aid and moved him to the side of the road. Kevin Alvarez, an employee of the Volunteer Fire Department of Pride, Louisiana, was the first individual who was trained as a first responder to arrive at the scene. He testified that he stopped just south of the accident site and saw Joshua Forbes on the side of the road. Kevin Alvarez immediately went to assist Joshua Forbes and stayed with him from that point until Joshua Forbes' arrival at a hospital. While in the ambulance with Joshua Forbes, Kevin Alvarez was also asked by the paramedics to assist with Mr. Cockerham, who was taken to the hospital in the same ambulance. Kevin Alvarez testified that Mr. Cockerham was conscious but seemed to be in shock. Kevin Alvarez could see no external injuries on Mr. Cockerham and did not recall smelling alcohol on Mr. Cockerham's breath. Thomas Wistrand, an emergency medical technician, arrived at the scene after driving an ambulance there from the Greenwell Springs/Frenchtown station. Thomas Wistrand cared for Mr. Cockerham in the ambulance and was in this vehicle when others loaded in Joshua Forbes. Thomas Wistrand testified that he did not smell alcohol on Mr. Cockerham's breath while taking Mr. Cockerham's vital signs and would have noted in his report if he had smelled alcohol. Thomas Wistrand also testified that, while he was caring for Mr. Cockerham and during the entire ride to the hospital, Joshua Forbes was screaming and that things in the back of the ambulance [were] very stressful. [7] Thomas Wistrand testified that Mr. Cockerham did not tell him what had happened and confirmed that Mr. Cockerham did not drink any alcohol on his way to the hospital while in the ambulance. Trooper Christopher Lanoux of the Louisiana State Police (Trooper Lanoux) was dispatched to the accident site and arrived at approximately 8:50 p.m. Upon arrival, Trooper Lanoux was advised that those injured in the accident were receiving medical care and that some of the people that were involved in the accident had already been removed from the scene. [8] Mr. Cockerham, the driver of the crashed vehicle, was about to leave in an ambulance at the time Trooper Lanoux arrived. Trooper Lanoux walked to the ambulance and observed Mr. Cockerham strapped to a back board inside the vehicle. Trooper Lanoux testified that, at this time, he detected a moderate smell of alcohol coming from Mr. Cockerham. Thereafter, Trooper Lanoux and his supervisor, who arrived to assist Trooper Lanoux due to the severity of the injuries sustained by the car's occupants, began an investigation of the accident and remained at the site for several hours. Trooper Lanoux looked for, marked and measured skid marks on the road, interviewed witnesses and took photographs of the scene. Trooper Lanoux and his supervisor walked two hundred yards to the north of the accident site and looked for anything that might have contributed to the accident. After completing his site investigation, Trooper Lanoux traveled to the hospital in Baton Rouge where Mr. Cockerham had been taken. At the hospital, Trooper Lanoux interviewed Mr. Cockerham and noted that Mr. Cockerham smelled of alcohol and that his speech was slurred. Trooper Lanoux requested that hospital staff draw blood from Mr. Cockerham so that Trooper Lanoux could send it to the Louisiana State Police laboratory for a whole blood alcohol concentration analysis. Mr. Cockerham's blood was drawn at ten minutes after midnight for this purpose. [9] In completing his investigation, Trooper Lanoux prepared an accident report recording various road factors. In addition, Trooper Lanoux documented the death of Angela Simonson. [10] Trooper Lanoux also prepared a supplemental accident report which included diagrams, distances and measurements drawn by Trooper Lanoux showing the start and end points of various skid marks on the road. Trooper Lanoux testified that by using the measurements of the skid marks on the road's surface, he was able to calculate Mr. Cockerham's speed at the time Mr. Cockerham's car made the first skid mark on the road. Trooper Lanoux testified that, based on his calculations, he determined that Mr. Cockerham was driving 75 miles per hour at the moment the car's skid marks started. Trooper Lanoux indicated that he could not compute the speed at which Mr. Cockerham's car ran into the tree because the car had left the roadway surface by that time. However, Trooper Lanoux testified that the speed must have been significant because the car broke the tree. [11] Trooper Lanoux further testified that he did not recall any potholes in the area of the accident scene, but described a patched area in the roadway north of the accident site. Additionally, Trooper Lanoux stated that the shoulders of the highway in the accident area sloped down from the surface of the road and had both grass and trees. He estimated the surface or the bottom of the ditch in the accident area was probably between one foot to one and one-half feet below the surface of the road. At trial, Trooper Lanoux was asked his conclusions as to how the accident occurred. Trooper Lanoux stated that by the evidence that we saw on the scene, it appeared that the driver was southbound on [Highway 37], which is Greenwell Springs Road, at what we estimate was a high rate of speed. He lost control, ran off the road, hit a tree and snapped it off or broke it off. The car spun around and came to rest in the ditch. [12]