| | CHARLOTTE -- Charlotte Hornets forward Derrick Coleman was acquitted of drunken driving charges on Wednesday in an October
accident that seriously injured teammate Eldridge Recasner.
The judge said prosecutors did not prove the player was
intoxicated at the time of the crash. Judge Eric Levinson did find
Coleman guilty on a related charge of unsafe movement.
Coleman, in the second season of a five-year, $40 million
contract, was fined $100 and ordered to pay $86 in court costs.
He declined to comment as he left the courthouse.
The charges stemmed from a crash on Oct. 27 in which Coleman
made a left turn and was struck on the passenger side by an
oncoming tractor-trailer.
The 32-year-old forward and a passenger, Ebony Kimbrough, 25,
had facial cuts.
Recasner, a 32-year-old backup guard, was in the front passenger
seat. He was left with a fractured right shoulder, collapsed lung
and other injuries.
Recasner needed extensive rehabilitation and remains on the
injured list. But he has begun practicing and the team hopes he can
soon play again.
Defense lawyer George Laughrun noted that two paramedics and one
police officer called by the state testified that when they saw
Coleman at the scene his eyes were not glassy.
Medical tests at the scene and at a hospital also led to the
determination that Coleman was not disoriented.
Laughrun noted that one police officer called by the state
testified that he asked for an additional officer to come to the
scene to get a second opinion about Coleman.
Coleman told officers he had been drinking champagne earlier in
the evening, but he refused to submit to a breath examination or
other sobriety tests at the scene. He would not consent to a blood
test at the hospital.
Assistant District Attorney Amy Sigmon said authorities should
be allowed to draw conclusions from Coleman's refusal to consent to
any of the tests.
"The state would contend the reason he chose not to do these
things was because he knew himself he was impaired that evening,"
she said. | |
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