911 tapes played in street racing trial

Friday, Feb. 5, 2010

Tears began flowing Tuesday in a Prince George's County courtroom after prosecutors played 911 tapes depicting a chaotic and bloody stretch of road where eight people were struck and killed along Route 210 in February 2008.

The family of Leonardtown resident Mark Courtney, 34, one of eight victims killed when a car plowed through a crowd of 200 people who had gathered at the highway in Accokeek to watch a street race, said they were overcome with emotion as they listened to opening remarks in the trial of Tavon Taylor, 20, of Waldorf.

Prosecutors allege Taylor was involved in an illegal street race with Darren Bullock, 22, of Waldorf. Both were charged with eight counts of vehicular manslaughter for their alleged involvement in the Feb. 16, 2008, crash.

Taylor, who has pleaded not guilty, faces a maximum of 80 years in prison if convicted during the trial, which began Monday.

Bullock pleaded guilty Friday to eight counts of vehicular manslaughter stemming from incident and is expected to be sentenced March 1 to 15 years in prison.

"No matter what they do, it won't bring my brother back," said Anthony Holt, Courtney's brother, who sat in on the trial.

Taylor's attorney, J. Wyndal Gordon, argued that Taylor, who was 18 at the time of the crash, was a naive teenager who happened across an accident that his friend was involved in and was ultimately accused of something he had nothing to do with. Citing 911 calls and witness interviews, Gordon urged jurors to find that the vast majority of evidence did not place Taylor's vehicle at the scene of the crime.

In a series of frantic 911 calls made by witnesses and drivers passing by the accident, Gordon described pandemonium and mass exodus from the scene as bodies lay in the highway.

"There has been an accident on 210, a group of people hit by cars," said a witness who called 911 that night.

"People are laying all in the roadway dead!" reported another caller, a woman. "These people are torn up."

"Are you talking about people who were dismembered?" asked the dispatch operator.

"Yes!" the woman responded.

While the tapes were being played, members of the courtroom audience burst into tears, shook their heads and reached for boxes of tissues. Many of them said they had lost family members during the night of the incident.

"It was painful," said Nakita Williams, who has a child with Courtney, while tears began to swell in her eyes. "I don't have [a] choice but to be strong."

Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey (D), who is prosecuting the case, told jurors Bullock and Taylor formed an agreement to race just south of the Charles County border line and into Accokeek and pulled up to a stoplight on the highway.

jgarner@gazette.net