Kingsport man faces trial in death of teen motorcyclist

Kingsport man faces trial in death of teen motorcyclist

 

A Kingsport man has chosen to go to trial on charges alleging he struck and killed a teen motorcyclist while fleeing from police in 2008.

Earlier this week, prosecutors said they anticipated Daniel Eli McGuire, 26, 405 Morelock St., would plead guilty to charges stemming from a July 11, 2008, police chase that ended with a crash that claimed a Gate City teen’s life.

Thursday afternoon marked McGuire’s plea deadline.

Members of the teen’s family reportedly were in the courtroom to hear his decision.

But when McGuire appeared in court, it was to announce his desire for a trial.

The judge then set a Sept. 14 trial date. Kingsport attorney J. Todd Ross, whom McGuire retained in April, is expected to represent him.

Kingsport police arrested McGuire after he allegedly blew through a Tennessee Highway Patrol checkpoint in a blue Ford pickup and ultimately struck the rear of a motorcycle, causing fatal injuries to 17-year-old Joshua Darnell. Officers found McGuire at his home later that night.

In November 2008, a Sullivan County grand jury indicted McGuire on two counts of vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of an accident involving injury, evading arrest, no driver’s license, running a stop sign and aggravated assault, along with reckless aggravated assault (three counts) and felony evading arrest. The latter four charges were dismissed by the state in January.

During a preliminary hearing in Kingsport General Sessions Court last year, jailer Andrew Goddard testified that McGuire made unsolicited statements during his incarceration there “to the effect of it was an accident, ‘I didn’t mean to do it.’ ... and ‘The only reason I ran from the officers was because of a child support warrant.’”

Court records include a statement from Tennessee Highway Patrol Sgt. Kenneth Wright about the pursuit preceding the crash.

With lights, siren and his video camera activated, Wright said he chased a blue Ford pickup after it ran through a driver’s license checkpoint he and four other officers were working on New Beason Well Road.

The chase crossed Highway 11-W to Cleek Road then turned onto Orebank Road. As the truck neared Memorial Boulevard, Wright caught a glimpse of a westbound motorcycle passing by Orebank just before the pickup ran through the stop sign and headed westbound on Memorial as well.

Then Wright saw the truck run over the back of the motorcycle and drive another 75 yards or so before pulling off to the side of the road, he said.

At that point, Wright said he was able to advise dispatch of the truck’s tag number but “didn’t take time to look” at the driver.

“I knew the driver on the roadway had to be hurt bad,” Wright said, adding that his focus had shifted to helping the boy until the Kingsport Fire Department got there.

Darnell was later pronounced dead at Holston Valley Medical Center.

According to a statement by THP Trooper David Osborne, when he arrived Wright told him to go after the pickup’s driver.

Shortly afterward, Osborne learned the pickup’s owner, Anderson Smallwood, had reported it stolen.

Osborne said Smallwood told him he could prove he wasn’t the one driving his truck. He alleged that his stepson, McGuire, had been driving it, adding that they are similar in appearance.

Smallwood told Osborne that McGuire had taken his truck earlier that day without his knowledge and that it wasn’t the first time he’d done so.

The next day, McGuire’s girlfriend, Angela Cassidy, gave a statement to Kingsport police also alleging it was McGuire who’d crashed the truck.

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