By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
Witnesses said Ross Edward Neese was belligerent and incoherent at times at the scene of an accident that claimed the life of a China Grove girl.
Police officers say Neese, then 25, was intoxicated and driving erratically the night of Dec. 8, 2006, and caused the wreck on U.S. 29 in front of Gary’s Barbecue.
Tuesday was first day of testimony in Neese’s trial on charges of second-degree murder, driving while impaired and two counts of felony serious injury by vehicle, a new felony put into law seven days before Patricia Eleanor “Patty” Burgdoff was killed.
The 8-year-old girl was a rear passenger in a Toyota Corolla, along with her best friend, Justen Morgan, who was 7 at the time. His mother, Shania Thompson, was driving and her husband, Michael Thompson, was a front-seat passenger.
Neese’s Ford Explorer struck the Corolla from behind, spun around and hit another vehicle.
Although she was wearing her seat belt, Patty died on impact, witnesses said.
China Grove Police Sgt. Eddie Howard became emotional as he testified about the condition of Patty’s body following the wreck. He said her skull and legs were crushed.
Over and over Tuesday, officers testified about arriving on the accident scene and checking the little girl for a pulse.
At least three officers took photos of the scene, including N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper Tommy Cato.
Cato, who was patrolling the area, went to the scene to assist. “I saw that it was a horrific wreck,” he said.
The trooper thumbed through photos he’d taken describing to jurors what they were looking at.
Neese sat between his attorneys, his head bowed, fumbling with a piece of tissue as the trooper went through nearly two dozen photos.
Patty’s family, too, were unable to look in the direction of the photos. Many in the Burgdoff family turned their heads.
China Grove Police Officer D.P. Walther testified that Neese’s head and hands were on the steering wheel. When the officer approached Neese’s Explorer, Neese locked the door.
Walther said he kept trying to ask Neese if he was injured and went to the passenger side of the SUV to get Neese’s attention.
The officer pulled out his asp, a short baton, which he was about to use to break the window. As Walther reached back with the baton, he heard the click of the door unlocking.
After asking Neese two more times if he was hurt, Walther said the man responded: “I have drank way too much to be driving.” See related article.
China Grove Police Officer Jeff Washam repeatedly asked Neese what happened.
“He didn’t know what was going on,” Washam said.
Washam told Neese he’d been in an accident. The officer said Neese told him he didn’t care what had happened, that his wife had died a couple of months earlier.
Neese appeared to be “highly intoxicated, waving his arms about and cussing,” China Grove Police Chief Hodge Coffield testified.
Coffield said Neese told him, “I know what I’ve done.”
Coffield instructed officers to handcuff Neese, testifying he wanted to protect the officers because Neese was flailing his arms about and cursing. The chief said he also didn’t want Neese to run.
“He was loud and boisterous,” Coffield said.
He also “put handcuffs on this man because he’s a murder suspect,” the chief added.
Coffield said he used those words because he wanted his officers to understand the seriousness of the accident.
Neese was in and out of consciousness while at the hospital, officials said.
Police Officer Washam said Neese awoke two or three times to ask what happened.
“You told him he was in a crash?” Kearns Davis, Neese’s attorney, asked.
“Yes,” Washam said.
When Coffield arrived at the hospital, sometime around 11 p.m., he could smell alcohol on Neese.
Davis wanted to know why his client was not officially charged prior to being at the hospital.
Coffield replied that emergency medical personnel were treating Neese. He added he did not indicate to his officers when to tell Neese what charges he faced.
Patty’s father, Donnie Burgdoff, told jurors he last saw his daughter alive on that Friday morning as she headed off to school. His wife, Cindy, helped their daughter dress for school, and she cut through their backyard to her grandparents’ home to catch the bus.
“On that day, she turned to say ‘I love you’ to her mom,” he said.
Burgdoff said Patty and Justen Morgan had grown up together and were inseparable. The two had planned to be married one day, he said.
Shania and Michael Thompson described the accident.
Shania said she saw nothing when she pulled out of the parking lot near Gary’s. She described trying to stop the car and thinking her brakes were not working because the car kept sliding.
Shania said she recalled telling several people who came to her aid that she was seven months pregnant.
Her husband was thrown into her lap. She pushed him away so she could get out to call 911. When she looked back inside the car, she knew something was wrong.
She thought she heard Justen cry out, but she did not hear anything from Patty.
Thompson called it a mother’s instinct. She called Patty’s family next.
The dinner the four had just shared was the last time Shania saw Patty alive.
Michael Thompson testified he doesn’t remember anything from the collision.
He suffered numerous fractures, including ribs, his spine and neck. Doctors also had to put a stint in his heart.
He was in a medically induced coma for a number of days. He only recalled what had been told to him about his injuries and the wreck.
Law enforcement officials testified Michael Thompson was disoriented and tried to push his way out of the vehicle. They hurriedly removed Justen and Patty, fearing Michael would crush them.
Although witnesses testified Tuesday to Neese’s condition while in the hospital, the subject of the blood tests has yet to be discussed.
Neese’s attorneys objected to admission of the blood test results during a Monday hearing prior to jury selections. The judge in the case has not made a final ruling.
The trial resumes at 8:30 this morning in Rowan County Superior Court.