Trial begins in fatal Shady Avenue crash

Case delayed after judge agrees to recuse himself

John Barsom was on his way from his Shadyside home around noon on Oct. 28, 2017, to Trader Joe’s to buy his wife flowers.

As he headed north on Shady Avenue, he saw a silver Chevy Cobalt heading in the opposite direction.

“It was going way too fast,” Mr. Barsom said.

As the Cobalt entered a sharp part of a curve on Shady at Hastings Street, the driver of the Cobalt lost control, Mr. Barsom said, and tried to overcorrect, traveling into his lane.

“I closed my eyes. I slammed on the brakes,” Mr. Barsom testified Monday afternoon. His vehicle slammed directly into the Cobalt’s passenger side. “I really thought I was dead.”

When he opened his eyes, Mr. Barsom testified, he realized he was OK — he had a broken collarbone — but the people in the other car appeared to be severely injured.

The front-seat passenger, Angelica Fields, 30, of Uniontown, was killed.

The driver of the Cobalt, identified by police as DaQuan Thompson, is on trial this week before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Bruce R. Beemer. Mr. Thompson is charged with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and related counts.

According to the criminal complaint filed against him, Mr. Thompson had a 0.191% blood alcohol content — more than twice the legal limit — and was traveling at 60 mph in a 25 mph speed zone.

Paris Lindsey, a back-seat passenger in the vehicle, testified Monday afternoon that the group in the Cobalt had been partying in Uniontown and then traveled to a house in Homewood to visit someone else. At the time of the crash,

they were headed back to Uniontown.

Mr. Lindsey said he and Mr. Thompson argued about who should be driving. Mr. Lindsey testified that the original agreement was that he would drive home.

“Those terms were not honored,” he said. “So here we are.”

Assistant District Attorney Christopher Stone asked the witness to explain what he meant.

“If I had drove back, we wouldn’t be in this predicament at all,” Mr. Lindsey responded. “I’m a driver by nature. I’ve been behind the wheel under all kinds of influences, and I’ve never been in an accident in my life.”

“Are you saying you’re a good driver while under the influence?” Mr. Stone asked.

“As crazy as that sounds, yes,” the witness answered.

Mr. Lindsey, who sustained seven fractured ribs in the impact, said he didn’t remember the moment of the crash because he’d fallen asleep.

“I closed my eyes and woke up at Mercy Hospital,” he said.

Defense attorney Aaron Sontz told Judge Beemer in a brief opening statement that his client was not contesting all of the charges in the case — only whether Mr. Thompson was under the influence at the time of the crash.

The nonjury trial was initially slated to begin Monday morning but was delayed after it had to be reassigned to a new judge.

As the proceedings were about to start before Judge David R. Cashman, Mr. Sontz told the court he wanted to place on the record that Judge Cashman had presided over the trial of Mr. Thompson’s father in a 2002 criminal case.

As soon as Mr. Sontz said the father’s name, William Thompson, Judge Cashman immediately began citing specific details from the crime.

William Thompson was charged, along with co-defendant Andra Crisswalle, with killing three people at Mr. Tommy’s Sandwich Shop in Homewood on Jan. 25, 2002.

“Do I remember this case?” he asked. “It’s indelibly etched in my brain. It’s one of the most horrific cases I’ve ever been involved in.”

As the judge spent several minutes reciting evidence from the case — William Thompson was tried three times and ultimately convicted of three counts of first-degree murder — visibly upset members of DaQuan Thompson’s family had to leave the room.

Judge Cashman said he believed he could preside over DaQuan Thompson’s trial impartially.

“If you think I’d visit the sins of the father on him, you’re wrong.”

However, Mr. Sontz, replied, “In light of the impact that case has had on the court, I respectfully request recusal.”

Judge Cashman agreed to transfer the trial to another courtroom.

“The facts of the case involving your father are 18 years old,” the judge said. “They should have gone away by now.

“It doesn’t let me go.”