By Shavonne Potts
Salisbury Post
Tears spilled down Christopher Crocker’s face Wednesday as he apologized for killing a Richfield woman in a collision he caused in 2006.
In an emotionally charged testimony, Crocker, 17, told jurors Wednesday he never meant for the accident to happen.
“I never wanted anyone to get hurt. I swear to God I didn’t,” he said.
Crocker’s testimony came on the second day of his trial for second-degree murder in the crash that claimed the life of Marshall “Marsha” Setzer Ludwick.
Authorities said that on Aug. 9, 2006, Crocker, then 15 years old, took his father’s truck, stole gasoline and led a store owner and authorities on a high-speed chase throughout Rowan County that ended when he crossed the center line and collided head-on with Ludwick’s car on Bringle Ferry Road.
The 64-year-old hairstylist was on her way to work that morning.
The China Grove teenager said he planned to travel to South Carolina to see his cousin. Crocker, originally from South Carolina, had been living with his father, Tim Crocker, for nearly a year.
He stayed up the previous night talking with his cousin on a networking Web site called MySpace. The two also called each other throughout the night and early morning to “make sure we wouldn’t fall asleep,” he said.
Crocker said he didn’t want his father to know he’d driven the truck, which had half a tank of gas when he took it. So he decided that morning he’d steal more gasoline. He’d also stolen his stepmother’s truck key a week before. He said she rarely used it and didn’t seem to miss it.
Before stealing gas, Crocker said, he stopped just near Bostian Heights Grocery on N.C. 152 and covered the pickup’s license plate with duct tape.
Crocker’s attorney, Sally Waters, asked him where he got the idea to cover up the license plate.
“I saw it on TV. I thought it was the logical thing to do,” he said.
Several law enforcement officials testified earlier in the trial they’d seen the duct tape covering the license plate.
Crocker stole $81.42 in gas from Bostian Heights Grocery. Store owner Bobby Power testified Tuesday that he chased Crocker once he realized the teenager didn’t intend to pay for the gas.
Crocker said he believed he’d gotten away with stealing the gasoline from the store until he saw a sport utility vehicle driving closely behind him.
“Every time I looked in the rearview mirror, I could see he was making wild gestures,” Crocker said of Power.
Waters asked her client why he didn’t stop. He said he was afraid.
“I was already scared. I was already nervous and in a panic. I was scared of the trouble I would get into if I had stopped,” Crocker said.
In earlier testimony, Power estimated their speeds at about 75 mph.
Previous witness statements revealed that Crocker ran several cars off the road before he crossed the center line on Bringle Ferry and crashed into Ludwick.
In his testimony, Crocker said he didn’t intentionally run cars off the road, but couldn’t recall if he had or not.
He said he did remember trying to keep the truck on the road.
Crocker said he remembered thinking he was “really messing up.”
“But I couldn’t convince myself to stop. If I could take it back, I swear I would,” he said, crying.
He then apologized for getting emotional.
Several members of Ludwick’s family became visibly upset during Crocker’s testimony. Some shook their heads and others wiped away tears. Crocker’s family also cried. One relative left the courtroom.
Crocker said he wasn’t thinking clearly when he ran from Granite Quarry Police Sgt. Kenneth Wayne Trivett right after hitting Ludwick’s car.
“I was in shock that I had been in this wreck,” he said.
He said the first time he knew he’d killed the other driver was when N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper Anthony Carpenter told him she was dead.
He was surprised, he said. He later cried for the first time in his detention center cell.
“I cried and I couldn’t stop crying,” Crocker said.
Rowan County District Attorney Bill Kenerly asked Crocker why, if he was so afraid of Power when the store owner was following him, he didn’t stop at the Granite Quarry Police Department. Crocker said he didn’t see the station.
Officer Trivett testified that the red-and-gray truck sped past him near the station.
Kenerly asked Crocker why, when Highway Patrol Trooper Craig Caudill interviewed him, he didn’t say that he had planned to go to South Carolina that day. Crocker said he hadn’t wanted to involve his cousin, who he didn’t want to get into trouble.
“You describe your own driving to be outrageous?” Kenerly asked.
“Yes,” Crocker answered.
“Do you deny going 90 mph?” Kenerly asked.
Crocker said he didn’t know he was going 90 mph, because he’d never driven that fast before.
Wreck reconstructionist Trooper Brian Palmiter concluded that Crocker’s speed on impact was 70 mph. He said that would have allowed three-quarters of a second for a driver to react and move. He added that reaction time is based on the individual, the level of driving experience, age and some other factors.
He said Ludwick was driving the posted 55 mph speed limit. Palmiter said damage to Ludwick’s Buick told him that most of the impact to the car was in the front portion of the driver’s side. A black license plate holder on the front of the truck made an imprint on Ludwick’s car.
Crocker passed a white truck just before he collided with the Buick.
William Alexander Hall told the court Tuesday he didn’t see Crocker at first because his radio was up too loud, but heard the truck’s engine rev.
Crocker said in his testimony that he must have revved his engine in his haste to pass the truck. He said he slowed down, then accelerated.
When asked why he went around the truck in a no-passing zone, the teenager said he thought the police would catch up to him if he didn’t.
Trooper Carpenter testified that Crocker didn’t seem remorseful to him.
“Did he ever cry during the time you were with him?” Kenerly asked.
“No,” Carpenter said.
The trooper added that Crocker never said he was sorry.
The trial continues today.
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Contact Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253 or spotts@salisburypost.com.