Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 8, 1994 TAG: 9401080214
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL HOY LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
For technical reasons, Michael Shane Lacy pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, although his attorney said the 22-year-old didn't deny being drunk when he drove his new pickup across a solid line into the path of a car driven by Helen Woolfolk Royal.
"There will be no denial he was under the influence," Lynchburg attorney Joseph Johnson said. Lacy's blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.17 percent an hour after the Aug. 13 wreck. The legal limit is 0.10 percent.
Royal was killed in the head-on collision that also killed 7-year-old Natasha Guobadia. Natasha's mother, FelitiaGuobadia, 29, was seriously injured. Also injured were Royal's grandson, Jonathan Dyke, 5, and her granddaughter, Brittany Hester, also 5. Natasha's brother, 5-year-old Adonye, was not injured.
Lacy was treated for injuries at Lynchburg General Hospital and was released the next day.
Commonwealth's Attorney James Updike summarized the events leading to the crash:
Sometime before 7 p.m. Aug. 13, Lacy visited a friend in Lynchburg and began drinking. Lacy was upset because he thought he was going to lose his job at Lynchburg's Aerofin Corp. Lacy also apparently had broken up with his girlfriend that day.
About two hours later Lacy left, heading home to Bedford on U.S. 221. He was driving so erratically that two passers-by, Virginia and Jeff Coleman, called the Bedford County Sheriff's Department, describing Lacy's truck and providing his license number.
Two minutes later, volunteer firefighter Fred Bryant called the Sheriff's Department to report that Lacy's pickup swerved into his lane, forcing him off the road. Bryant was on the phone with a sheriff's deputy when his emergency pager went off reporting the collision.
Royal and her family were returning to Lynchburg after visiting her sister, Emily Fuqua, in Goode. when the accident occurred.
Lacy's truck hit the Royal vehicle squarely at 47 mph, a state crash team reported. The truck left no skid marks. Witnesses said its headlights were not on. The collision occurred on a straight stretch between Lynchburg and Bedford.
Johnson said his client had been upset over the possibility of losing his job and his girlfriend. "He wasn't accustomed to drinking, and he went overboard on the drinking, but it's completely alien to his character," Johnson said.
Seven of Royal's 10 surviving offspring attended Friday's hearing. Paul Royal said the family bears no ill will against Lacy.
"There are no grudges against him - it's just one of those things that happen due to the alcohol," Royal said. "It could have happened to anybody who was there at that point in time."
But Royal said he wants to see Lacy punished.
"If you're going to drink, don't go out there driving," he said. "I'd like to see justice served - if he chose to drink and drive, I'd like to see him pay for his actions."
Judge William Sweeney ordered a presentence report. No sentencing date has been set.
by CNB