Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 11, 1990                   TAG: 9004110536
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DETROIT                                LENGTH: Medium

FRIEND SAYS MARTIN WAS DRIVING CAR

Reedy told the Detroit Free Press that he lied and told police he was driving to protect his friend, whom he didn't realize was injured fatally.

Interviewed later by The Detroit News, however, Reedy denied making those statements to the rival Free Press.

"I thought he was knocked out," Reedy, who suffered a broken hip in the wreck at Martin's rural Binghamton, N.Y., farm, told the Free Press in an article published today. "I'm going to plead not guilty to driving while intoxicated, or even to driving.

"I told them I was driving to try to protect Billy," Reedy said in an interview at Reedy's Saloon near Tiger Stadium. "We've been friends for 20, 25 years, and Billy had put up with a lot of stuff from [New York Yankees owner] George Steinbrenner."

He denied that he and the five-time New York Yankees manager were drunk, but said, "We both had drinks."

Reedy's story changed when The Detroit News contacted him for an article also published today.

"I never told [the Free Press] that," Reedy said. "It's crazy. That's the reason the attorney told me not to make any statements. I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to make any statement."

Reedy's home number in Detroit is unpublished. A man who answered the telephone this morning at his bar said he expected Reedy after 10 a.m.

Tuesday in Binghamton, a prosecutor said Reedy would be charged only with driving while intoxicated when Martin's truck slid into a culvert at the end of his driveway.

Broome County District Attorney Gerald Mollen said he has decided against presenting evidence to a grand jury.

Reedy, 53, is scheduled to appear in May in Fenton Town Court. He is free on his recognizance after pleading innocent in an earlier hearing.

Driving while intoxicated in New York is punishable by a fine of $350-$500, driver's license revocation and up to a year in jail, said George Filieau, a spokesman for the state Department of Motor Vehicles in Albany.

Blechman said prosecutors couldn't find evidence to warrant additional and more serious charges against Reedy, such as vehicular manslaughter.

"In every fatality in Broome County where there's an indication that alcohol might be involved, we review the evidence to determine whether a grand jury presentation might be appropriate," said Mollen. "We did that, and at this point, there's no reason to present it to a grand jury."

Martin, 61, died from head and neck injuries.

According to sheriff's investigators, Reedy and his wife had been celebrating Christmas at the Martin residence. Reedy and Martin were returning home after running some errands.

Reedy's blood-alcohol content shortly after the accident exceeded 0.1 percent, the level of legal intoxication in New York. The exact reading has not been revealed.

Keywords:
FATALITY