MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Testimony continued Wednesday in the trial of a former Rutherford County sheriff's deputy accused in the July 2008 traffic death of an 11-year-old girl.
In day one of testimony on Tuesday, it was revealed that Ron Killings was speeding down Bradyville Pike and talking on his cell phone when he struck Lakeisha White with his county-owned cruiser.
White, who was from Kentucky, was in Murfreesboro visiting her aunt, Kim Coleman, at the time of the accident.
Cheryl Davis-Bigsby lived next door to Coleman at the time and said she saw White and a few other children heading across the street to another apartment complex moments before the impact.
She testified she didn't actually see the collision but heard it from her porch and quickly looked towards the roadway.
"Once she got hit it was like floating up in the air," Davis-Bigsby told the courtroom. "…It was like a rainbow but it was the color of her clothes."
Jurors Wednesday also heard from Jerry Lynn Champion, a former detective with the LaVergne Police Department and who Killings was on the phone with when he hit the little girl
Cell phone records show their conversation began at 8:37 p.m. that night and ended five minutes later.
"All I remember is he said, ‘Oh f&%$,' and the phone call, um, the phone went dead," she testified.
Two juveniles who were with White at the time of the incident also took the witness stand.
They told the jury while they were with her at the time, they didn't she her get hit. One told the judge she actually saw White fly through the air.
A Tennessee Highway Patrol officer who investigated the crash was last to the take the stand on Wednesday.
Citing information gathered from the vehicle's "black box", which records information after airbag deployment, he testified Killings was traveling 62-miles-per-hour at the time of impact and White was hit "mid-stride", as if she was running.
The officer also said White's body was thrown 150 feet from the point of impact.
Previous Stories:
- Feb. 9, 2010: Testimony begins in deputy's reckless homicide trial
- Feb. 8, 2010: Jury selected in former deputy's reckless homicide trial
- Oct. 9, 2009: Former detective's reckless homicide trial on hold
- Sept. 23, 2009: Hamilton Co. jurors to hear reckless homicide trial
- June 8, 2009: Former deputy faces Oct. trial date for fatal crash
- Feb. 4, 2009: Grand jury indicts Rutherford Co. deputy involved in fatal crash
- Oct. 25, 2008: Officers mishandled fatal accident investigation, police say
- Aug. 22, 2008: Acting DA in Lakeisha White case talks with News 2
- Aug. 18, 2008: Girl's family asks for new district attorney
- Aug. 11, 2008: Family files wrongful death suit
- July 18, 2008: Girl, 11, dies after being struck by car
Ron Killings
Lakeisha White
Jerry Lynn Champion was on the phone with Ron Killings at the time of the accident.
