NORWICH – The trial of Thomas Toomer, 34, of Oxford, began Wednesday, June 29, at The Chenango County Courthouse. It is alleged that Toomer, on April 3, 2015, on State Highway 220, in the Town of McDonough, was involved in a motor vehicle accident while he was under the influence of alcohol. Toomer is charged with felony DWI and driving while in excess of 0.08 percent of one percent of alcohol in his blood stream. Leading the prosecution's case was Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride. Defense Attorney Kevin O'Brien represented the defendant, while The Honorable Judge Frank B. Revoir Jr. presided over the matter.
The trial began with the opening statement from the prosecution. McBride explained that the defendant was accused of driving drunk, and subsequently causing an accident involving himself and two other individuals. He described how the defendant approached a sharp turn at high-speed, heading eastbound on State Highway 220, which runs between Oxford and McDonough.
“He was going so fast that their (witness’) recollection was that his tires were in the air as he came around the corner,” McBride said. McBride continued to illustrate that the defendant did not stop after hitting the first victim’s car, and attempted to continue down the road, despite losing a wheel in the accident.
After a New York State Police Trooper arrived, McBride said that the remnants of a 24 pack of beer were discovered in the defendants car. He also conveyed that Toomer's breath was tested by the NYSP over two hours after the crash had occurred. The analysis allegedly came back at 0.09 percent of one percent of alcohol in the defendants blood stream, which is 0.01 percent over the New York State legal limit.
“You'll also hear, after the officer arrived, the defendant tried to blame the other drivers for the accident, trying to shed responsibility for what he had done,” said McBride. “After examining the evidence, you can come to only one conclusion. The defendant was driving drunk when he crashed into these people. I ask you to find the defendant guilty on both charges.”
In his opening statement, O'Brien did not dispute the fact that an accident occurred, but addressed the fact that there was multiple different accounts of what had happened that day. “Sometimes we see things differently,” he said. He brought up the fact that there was no accident reconstruction carried out, so there was no scientific evidence of how the accident occurred. O’Brien also depicted how the trooper who came on the scene did not take any photos or videos of the accident, nor any audio recordings of any witness accounts. That same trooper also allegedly made multiple mistakes when filling out paperwork after the incident, including an error when noting how many mistakes the defendant made during sobriety field tests of the defendant.
“There's going to be a lot of errors in his (the NYS Trooper's) paperwork,” O'Brien said. “That calls into question what actually happened. You can't change or alter video evidence. If notes are wrong, you can't rely on them.”
O'Brien concluded his opening statement by saying, “the only question is, 'was Mr. Toomer driving while intoxicated?' I'm going to ask you to say not guilty.”
Four witnesses were called to the stand to testify in the first day of proceedings, including the drivers of the other two vehicles involved in the accident. Ayan Mohamed, of Syracuse, was the driver of the car that the defendant allegedly hit head-on. She described her version of what transpired on the afternoon in question.
“All of a sudden there was an SUV coming, driving extremely fast. At one point he was on two wheels. He hit me right on my driver’s side,” Mohamed said.
