Jurors hear 911 calls in race case

Waldorf man faces 80 years for killing eight

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/Indian Head Highway 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, who each 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 and is expected to last two weeks.

Bullock pleaded guilty last week to eight counts of vehicular manslaughter stemming from the 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 attended the trial.

Taylor's attorney, J. Wyndal Gordon, argued that Taylor, who was 18 at the time of the crash, was a young and naÔve teenager who happened across an accident that his friend was involved in and was ultimately accused of something he has 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 responds.

While the tapes were being played, members of the courtroom audience burst into tears, shook their heads and reached for boxes of tissues. In interviews with the Independent, 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 no choice but to be strong."

Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey (D), who is prosecuting the case, painted a vivid scene of events leading up to the crash that killed eight and injured five others. Ivey told jurors, who were selected late Monday, that Bullock and Taylor formed an agreement to race just south of the Charles County line and into Accokeek and pulled up to a stoplight on the highway.

"They made an agreement. They became partners," he said.

"When the lights became green, they took off."

Ivey argued that although Taylor's vehicle likely did not strike anyone in the crowd gathered along the highway, his actions leading up to the accident should make him accountable for the deaths. He said that after Bullock's vehicle struck the victims, Taylor picked up two men from Bullock's vehicle and fled the scene.

When police tracked him down five days later, Ivey said, Taylor had made repairs to his car to cover the damage made during the accident.

Ivey said Taylor supplied police with a written statement weeks later in which he admitted to racing along Route 210 the night of the accident.

However, Gordon said that Taylor was coerced into making the statement during a series of interviews with police.