By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG
Staff Writer
PLATTSBURGH — The survivor of a February 2009 crash that claimed three lives maintained Monday that his friend was driving the car, not one of the victims, as the accused has suggested.
Kyle Bushey took the stand Monday morning as the first prosecution witness in the case against Josh Bombardier, who is facing a string of charges for allegedly driving drunk and crashing Veronica LeClair's car, killing the Ellenburg woman; her son, Stephen M. Foster, 15; and her stepson, Travis L. LeClair, 15.
MOMS, TEENS DRINKING
After opening arguments, jurors heard from Bushey, who described the events that led up to the Feb. 8, 2009, crash, which left him with a traumatic brain injury.
Bushey said he was hanging out with Bombardier, Foster and the young LeClair, as well as a number of other teens, at Mrs. LeClair's home.
"We were watching TV and drinking," Bushey recalled, adding that Mrs. LeClair had bought the teens two 12-packs earlier that day as she ran errands and gave them rides.
Mrs. LeClair was also drinking alcohol, he said.
WANTED TO DRIVE CAR
It was at her house, Bushey said, that the teens started talking about taking Mrs. LeClair's unregistered and uninsured Mustang for ride.
"We all thought it was a good idea," he told Assistant District Attorney Doug Collyer.
Bushey said Bombardier decided to go with the group only "if he could drive," adding that Mrs. LeClair got into the passenger seat to let Bombardier drive as the rest got settled into the back seat.
Bushey maintained that Bombardier, then 18, was behind the wheel when the speeding car veered off Route 11 and crashed.
Authorities initially believed Mrs. LeClair had been driving, but months of further investigation, including the new information that Bushey provided, led them to later suspect Bombardier.
Bombardier, now 19, of West Chazy was subsequently arrested and indicted in connection with the accident.
MEMORY QUESTIONED
While on the stand, Bombardier's attorney, Tina Soloski, questioned Bushey in detail about how he "suddenly" remembered — weeks after his hospitalization and surgeries — that Bombardier was driving.
Bushey said that because of his physical limitations, he was forced to spend a lot of time thinking and that memories of that day slowly came back, prompting him to eventually tell police and file a lawsuit against Bombardier.
In her opening arguments, Soloski told jurors that Mrs. LeClair was actually driving and she later suggested, through her line of questioning, that Bushey changed his version of events to support a lawsuit for financial damages.
But Bushey, who underwent months of medical treatments and dropped out of high school after the crash, maintained the lawsuit had nothing to do with why he came forward with information.
Bushey later helped police in the investigation and had a number of recorded telephone conversations with Bombardier, who allegedly asked him to lie and say that Mrs. LeClair had been driving.
'IT LOOKED LIKE A GUY'
Later Monday, a highway employee testified that he saw a male individual driving Mrs. LeClair's Mustang as he watched it slide out of control and off the road.
"I saw the driver. To me, it looked like a guy (driving)," said Lester Trombley, a New York State Department of Transportation employee who was called into work that day to help clear northern roads from an overnight snowfall.
Kelly Wallfied, an elementary teacher at Northern Adirondack Central where Mrs. LeClair used to work as a study-hall teacher, also testified after having witnessed the accident.
She said she saw the Mustang "coming out of a turn, and it seemed to be going at a high rate of speed."
Wallfied was one of several passers-by who stopped at the accident before police and emergency-personnel arrived.
SMELLED ALCOHOL
Ellenburg Depot Assistant Fire Chief Eric LaValley, one of the first-responders, later described rendering aid to Bombardier.
On the stand Monday, LaValley said he "smelled alcohol" on Bombardier and said the teen admitted that he had been drinking.
State Police later testified that they interviewed Bombardier a short time later at the hospital and the injured teen didn't tell them about his alleged alcohol consumption, saying that he didn't remember anything before, during or immediately after the accident.
"He maintained that he didn't remember anything," Investigator George Dyer said.
CHARGES
Nearly a dozen witnesses testified during the trial's first day, and more are expected to take the stand today when the trial resumes.
Bombardier is facing a charge of aggravated vehicular homicide, three counts of second-degree vehicular manslaughter, three counts of second-degree manslaughter, three counts of criminally negligent homicide, second-degree vehicular assault, third-degree assault, second-degree reckless endangerment, driving while under the influence of alcohol and reckless driving.
E-mail Andrea VanValeknburg at: avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com
