Video captures fatal LRT beating
Accused LRT killer Jeremy Newborn repeatedly kicked and stomped victim John Hollar in the head as he lay motionless on the train car floor, a jury heard Thursday.
Testifying at Newborn’s seconddegree murder trial, Edmonton Transit System motorman Tom Jablonski said he began watching a closed-circuit camera view of the deadly 2012 attack from where he was driving the LRT train after passengers sounded alarms.
Jablonski told jurors he initially saw the two men pushing and shoving each other, then saw Newborn throw punches and Hollar fall to the floor and remain “motionless.”
“And the guy in the black jacket (Newborn) started kicking him,” said Jablonski, adding there were “quite a few” kicks to the victim’s midsection.
The motorman told the jury that Newborn briefly left Hollar lying on the floor, then returned and began “kicking and stomping” him between his midsection and upper body.
“I believe he was stomping on his head,” said Jablonski.
He testified that Newborn sat down for about 15 seconds while the train was stopped at Belvedere station. After Jablonski was told to continue to Clareview station, where police were en route, and lock the doors, he said Newborn tried to exit the train.
Then, as the train got going, Jablonski said he saw on the camera that Newborn had resumed stomping on Hollar’s upper body.
Jablonski testified he helped a police officer chase down Newborn after he left the train at Clareview.
Passenger Thomas Gaspich testified he got on the LRT at the same time as Newborn and thought to himself that he was “bad business.”
Gaspich told court he witnessed Newborn punching Hollar and said he had an “evil grin” on his face while he kept hitting him.
Gaspich told the jury he was approached by some other passengers and asked to help them stop Newborn, but declined, and said he will “live with that for the rest of his life” because he now thinks they might have been able to change what happened.
Newborn, 32, has admitted he assaulted Hollar, 29, on Dec. 28, 2012. The victim died two days later from his injuries.
Newborn’s lawyer has previously suggested that his client should be convicted on a lesser charge of manslaughter.