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

DATE: THURSDAY, October 21, 1993                   TAG: 9310210230
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD, N.C.                                LENGTH: Short

WITH TEARS, MAN RECALLS WIFE'S INJURY

Phil and Ellie Daley worried so much about driving to Florida they discussed avoiding Jacksonville for fear of being shot from an overpass.

But the Virginia couple's biggest danger came in rural Johnston County, when a 42-pound cemetery vase plunged into the windshield of their Jeep Cherokee, critically injuring Ellie Daley.

Phil Daley fought back tears in court Tuesday as he recalled the sights and sounds of the vase smashing into the car.

"It was like a slow-motion dream, a horror movie," Daley recalled. "I looked over, I thought she was sleeping because she had been reclined. I said `Ellie, are you OK?' There was no response."

Shane Beasley, 16, of Four Oaks, is being tried on charges of throwing the vase onto Interstate 95. He listened quietly to testimony in Johnston County Superior Court.

Beasley is one of five teens charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. Two teens - Daniel Frye and Daniel P. Parker - have agreed to testify against Beasley.

If convicted, Beasley faces up to 20 years in prison.

Daley suffered severe head and chest injuries, including a broken jaw, brain stem damage, four broken ribs, a crushed arm and a punctured lung. She spent about six weeks at Wake Medical Center and is continuing rehabilitation at her Northern Virginia home.

Prosecutors say the incident followed a night of cruising marked by random violence that included smashing mailboxes and pounding out the windows of a rundown store.

by CNB