Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Keith McGrath showed surveillance video of the crash and graphic images of Pierce’s body in Clark County Common Pleas Court on Monday, the first day of Berry’s bench trial. Berry, 81, a former Clark County prosecutor, is charged with failure to stop after an accident.
“It was violent and it was gruesome,” Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Leslie Arnold testified. “When we took the sheet off, obviously it was a broken body, but it didn’t look too bad. But when we rolled him over, I was shocked at the damage to the back of his body.”
The crash scene stretched about 65 feet and significantly damaged the front and passenger side of Berry’s vehicle. If convicted of the third-degree felony, Berry could get probation or up to five years in prison.
Among the five witnesses who testified Monday was Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper James Boysel, who described video of the crash frame by frame to visiting Judge John W. Kessler.
“No brake lights were applied. The vehicle continues to travel out of view of the video. Did it stop?” McGrath asked.
“No,” Boysel testified.
The crash occurred about 10 p.m. after Pierce left the Wayside Tavern, 2288 S. Yellow Springs St.
Pierce, who had cocaine in his urine and a blood-alcohol level of 0.31, lay beside the front door of the bar, stumbled in the parking lot, holding himself up on a van at one point and then stumbled across Springfield-Xenia Road before he was struck by Berry’s car.
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