Attorney says driver charged in fatal hit and run wasn't at wheel
The attorney for a man charged with driving a car that hit and killed two Baltimore teenagers in June says his client denies being behind the wheel. James Rhodes, the lawyer, said Reuben Dunn's companion has told police a lie.
Dunn (seen in police mugshot) surrendered to police earlier today, indicted on charges that include two counts of auto manslaughter, two counts of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and driving under the influence. Police say he drove through a red light on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, at Pratt Street, and hit Emerald Smith, 17, and her friend, Courtney Angeles, 16, who were in a crosswalk.
Police found the car about 30 minutes later near BWI, but said a woman was driving and told the officer she had been in an accident in the city. Dunn told the officer he had been sleeping. Prosecutors said they believe Dunn switched places with the woman after the accident and before he had been stopped.
But Rhodes said the case relies only on the woman's changed story. "The police are going to have a big problem" at trial, the attorney told me. The woman, Dunn's former girlfriend and mother of their two children, was charged with being an accessory after the fact. Her attorney would not comment on details of the case. Prosecutors would not comment on Rhodes' allegations.
To read the police report:
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Southwest Baltimore
