December 05, 2012|By Riley Yates, Of The Morning Call
What caused the ex-cop to plow his pickup into a string of motorcyclists in Bangor, killing two and injuring four in a fiery crash on a beautiful day at the start of the Fourth of July weekend last year?
Was it the up to six drinks that John P. Heaney III had — as many as four just before he got behind the wheel? Or was he the victim of a medical problem that even he wasn't aware of — betrayed by the gastric bypass surgery that he'd undergone three years before.
In other words, who is right? Prosecutors, who say a drunken Heaney is guilty of homicide by vehicle, or the defense, which says authorities jumped to unwarranted conclusions and blamed a man whose health episode was no crime?
"The facts are: They're wrong," Heaney's attorney, Dennis Charles, insisted Monday to the Northampton County jury that will decide his client's fate. "They're not just a little wrong. They're way off. Alcohol did not cause this crash. What caused this crash was insulin."
Heaney, 50, a retired Plainfield, N.J., police officer, refused to submit to a blood-alcohol test after the wreck July 1, 2011, on Route 512. Police say his northbound truck completely crossed into the southbound lane when it hit the motorcyclists, who were members of the New Jersey-based Last Chance Motorcycle Club, a support group for riders overcoming drug and alcohol addiction.
The men were on their way to a wake. Killed were Michael Zadoyko, 47, and Keith Michaelson, 51, both of New Jersey. Only one of the bikers escaped injury in the crash, which East Bangor police Chief Robert Mulligan has described a scene of "a lot of chaos," with some of the motorcycles on fire and "a few bodies that were laying about."
"I just kept saying to him, 'You killed my brothers. You just killed my brothers,' " remembered George Courtis, the last biker in the line. "He just kept saying, 'I'm sorry. … What do you want me to do?' "
Courtis, a big man who wore the colors of his club, took the stand on the first day of testimony that Assistant District Attorney William Blake said will prove that Heaney was drunk. Courtis fought tears as he described a crash that "scattered us like bowling pins." So did the loved ones of Zadoyko and Michaelson who were in the audience.
When Michaelson, the first in line, was hit, "it looked like napalm," Courtis said. "I'm telling you, it was a ball of flame the size of this room."
He recalled watching Zadoyko's bike flying "end over end" through the air.
He also remembered one of the injured men, Jerry Hoogmoed, with his face and arms burned, hobbling up the road after Heaney's pickup, fearing Heaney would flee.
"He's screaming, 'He's going to take off. Don't you run. Don't you [expletive] run,' " Courtis said.
Tammy Morris of Bangor, who was driving behind the motorcyclists, said she also thought Heaney might be planning to leave the scene. She said she motioned to him as if to ask where he was going before he parked his pickup off the road.
"They were probably drunk and he wasn't drunk," Morris said she overheard Heaney tell police — a statement that brought gasps from the families in the audience.
Blake says Heaney had two beers with lunch and as many
as four gin and tonics later at a private club, and smelled of alcohol and had
bloodshot eyes.
"I killed two people today. I'm going away for a long time," Heaney allegedly told an East Bangor patrolman, one of several statements that Blake highlighted as incriminating. "It's true. Two men are dead; my life is over," Heaney is also accused of saying.
Charles said his client spoke in shock after the wreck when he was unaware of what had really caused it.
Charles said Heaney was actually overcome by a problem with his blood sugar that often plagues gastric bypass patients. The symptoms, Charles said, are almost identical to intoxication: lightheadedness, disorientation and poor motor functions.
"All he could think was, I've killed two people, I must have committed a crime," said Charles, who had Heaney examined by two doctors. "But he did not because this illness is not voluntary. It is involuntary."
Charles also questioned the amount of alcohol Heaney consumed that day, saying that bartenders said Heaney drank less than he was served and showed no symptoms of intoxication.
Heaney, of Lopatcong Township, N.J., near Phillipsburg, is also charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault by vehicle and related crimes. Last month, he rejected a plea agreement calling for him to serve three to six years in state prison.
riley.yates©mcall.com
610-253-5751
"I killed two people today. I'm going away for a long time," Heaney allegedly told an East Bangor patrolman, one of several statements that Blake highlighted as incriminating. "It's true. Two men are dead; my life is over," Heaney is also accused of saying.
Charles said his client spoke in shock after the wreck when he was unaware of what had really caused it.
Charles said Heaney was actually overcome by a problem with his blood sugar that often plagues gastric bypass patients. The symptoms, Charles said, are almost identical to intoxication: lightheadedness, disorientation and poor motor functions.
"All he could think was, I've killed two people, I must have committed a crime," said Charles, who had Heaney examined by two doctors. "But he did not because this illness is not voluntary. It is involuntary."
Charles also questioned the amount of alcohol Heaney consumed that day, saying that bartenders said Heaney drank less than he was served and showed no symptoms of intoxication.
Heaney, of Lopatcong Township, N.J., near Phillipsburg, is also charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault by vehicle and related crimes. Last month, he rejected a plea agreement calling for him to serve three to six years in state prison.
riley.yates©mcall.com
610-253-5751