Testimony wraps up in vehicular homicide case

    The testimony in the Andrew Tyler Brock trial began Monday afternoon and concluded Wednesday morning. Brock, 19, of Washington, is charged with three counts of vehicular homicide in connection to a three-vehicle collision on May 23, 2009, in which three people died. The attorneys for both sides will give their closing remarks Wednesday afternoon, after which the 12-member jury will go into deliberation.

    Paul LaRoche was the third prosecution witness to testify in the trial. LaRoche was traveling on his way to Knoxville from Riverside on the afternoon of May 23, 2009. LaRoche was westbound on Highway 92 a few miles from the intersection with Highway 1 when he saw a pickup approach Highway 92 from the south, on Lexington Boulevard. He said that there was no way the pickup would be able to stop at the stop sign. He saw the pickup collide into another car on Highway 92. LaRoche pulled his vehicle to the side of the road and ran to the scene of the accident.

    LaRoche, a first responder with 23 years of experience, approached the pickup and saw that the driver (Andrew Brock) was covered in blood. LaRoche said the driver was hysterical, and that he crawled out of the window after being unable to open his door. LaRoche saw that another vehicle was on fire, on its top and in the north ditch. He did not approach that car for his own safety. LaRoche went to the passenger side of the pickup to check on the passenger, who was unresponsive. The passenger was Travis Filben, who died as a result of injuries from the collision. The car that caught fire contained Samuel and Jacqueline Langstaff, who were also killed.

    The prosecution then called three witnesses to testify about each of the three victims. Shirley Haupert testified about her relationship with her daughter Jacquelyn. Gene Langstaff, Jason?s father, said that Jason and Jacquelyn were on their way to visit him and his wife in Wapello when the accident occurred. Traci Shaffer, mother of Travis Filben, testified that she was on the phone with Travis just as he got in Brock?s pickup that afternoon.

    Iowa State Patrol officer Jonah Grier then took the stand. Grier took photographs of the accident scene that day, which he showed to the jury Tuesday. Grier took photos of the pickup?s skid marks on Lexington (a gravel road at that point). He said he could tell they were skid marks, meaning the tires were sliding across the gravel, because of the smooth surface they left behind. Based on the tire tracks Grier identified, he concluded that Brock was on the left-hand (west) side of Lexington when he entered Highway 92.

    Grier said that Brock?s pickup must have been traveling at a ?considerable speed? because of the damage it suffered and because it left a tow-hook mark in the Langstaffs? vehicle. He said that the vehicles could not have suffered the damage they did if Brock had simply crept out into the intersection.     

    The state then called Andrew Brock?s father Randy Brock. Randy testified that he purchased the 1997 Chevrolet pickup from a dealership in Iowa City around February 2009. Randy test drove the vehicle, and said that the brakes were pretty bad. The dealership subsequently installed new brakes.

For the full story, see the March 9 edition of The Washington Evening Journal