Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 6, 1990 TAG: 9006060352
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Lexington Police Chief Bruce Beard confirmed that a female student came to police several weeks after Comer's arrest in late November in connection with the hit-and-run death.
According to police, the woman said she got into Comer's 1986 Honda Accord at a fraternity house shortly after 1:30 a.m., but she said she was too intoxicated to remember if the car struck anything.
Scarborough was hit and killed about 2 a.m. on March 16, police investigators said. Beard said the investigation into the case is continuing.
Authorities have said that others who failed to report the crime could face charges of being accessories after the fact.
Comer, of Greenville, S.C., is scheduled to go on trial July 25 on involuntary manslaughter and hit-and-run charges.
Meanwhile, a Raleigh, N.C., attorney for the Scarborough family has questioned whether Rockbridge County Commonwealth's Attorney Eric Sisler should serve as prosecutor in the case.
"There is cause for some concern as whether there may be some conflict of interest in your continued appearance as commonwealth's attorney and your representation of Washington & Lee University," attorney Ronald C. Dilthey wrote to Sisler following Comer's preliminary hearing in January.
"If there is even an outward appearance of conflict, I suggest you should withdraw from the case and substitute a new prosecutor."
Scarborough's father, Dr. D.E. Scarborough, confirmed that Dilthey is his family's attorney and has been asked to keep track of the proceedings. Scarborough referred all questions about the letter to Dilthey, who would not comment when contacted at home.
Repeated telephone messages to Sisler at his home and office were not answered.
Brian Shaw, W&L's director of communications, confirmed that Sisler is one of several attorneys used by the school.
"He is the local attorney we use most frequently on routine matters," Shaw said.
Beard said he and Patrolman Jerry Knick are working with Sisler's office preparing a witness list.
Comer's arrest came after an informant contacted police and told them Comer was driving the car that struck Scarborough. That same informant told police at the time that Comer was accompanied by a woman the night Scarborough died.
In his statement to police, Comer admitted striking Scarborough as she walked on Washington Street, according to Knick. However, Comer insisted that no one was with him in the car, police said.
Police said Comer told them he didn't stop because "he was scared to death and didn't know what to do." Scarborough died at the scene.
During the investigation that followed, police checked more than 1,000 Honda Accords in communities surrounding Lexington. They had eliminated Comer as a suspect after finding no front-end damage on a dark blue Honda Accord he had on campus.
Investigators didn't know until the informant told them that Comer's brother had driven to Lexington in their parents' metallic blue Honda Accord the week Scarborough was killed.
Police seized a 1986 Honda Accord LX from the Greenville, S.C., home of Comer's parents following his arrest. The car had a cracked parking light, a small dent near the headlight and an indentation in the roof support.
A horn cover, matching the type found by police near the scene of the accident, was missing from underneath the front end of the car.
by CNB