MARTINEZ, California- Nearly one year after a favorite Discovery Bay resident was rear-ended on Highway 4 and murdered in a horrible crash, the driver is on trial facing a manslaughter charge.
Frank J. Newkirk, 26, was driving a Chevy SUV on Oct. 4, 2017, when he rear-ended a Nissan sedan containing Theresa Frazer, 46, and her friend. Newkirk was charged with gross vehicular manslaughter and driving without a license.
On the morning she was killed, Frazer was doing exactly what family and friends said came as second nature to her: doing a favor for a loved one by driving him to work in Oakland. The crash happened on Highway 4 westbound, a brief distance from a Railroad Avenue in Pittsburg.
Speaking to jurors Tuesday morning, prosecutor Aron DeFerrari described it as a case of “deadly recklessness.” He said the digital trace from the car’s computer system revealed the brakes were not applied in any respect in the eight seconds leading up to the crash.”(Newkirk) crushed that Nissan like a soda can,” DeFerrari told jurors. He later added, “She never saw it coming, and she never had an opportunity.
“Newkirk wasn’t under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and prosecutors are not sure what he was doing at the time of the collision. Was is known — thanks to the SUV’s “black box” — is that the car had been driving 58 mph one second before the impact, which literally caused Frazer’s heart to rip open.
DeFerrari also played jurors a silent video of the crash, showing the viewpoint of a Pittsburg officer who was the first officer on the scene as he runs to the car, while passers-by attempt to help Frazer. Her lifeless body can be found in the driver‘s seat towards the conclusion of the brief video.
What DeFerrari said the movie didn’t show was “guttural, primal” screams of Frazer’s friend, who DeFerrari said was trying to wake Frazer up, though at that point she was already dead.
Newkirk’s attorney, Elise McNamara, told jurors that there was a dip in the road near the crash site that influenced visibility. She said “everybody” would feel deep sympathy for Frazer and confessed her client was “morally responsible” for her passing. She urged jurors to set emotions aside and look at the facts.
At the time of the crash, Newkirk was driving a girl and a young child, McNamara said. McNamara said the information gleaned from the car’s computer was proven to be “not very reliable” and that traffic had a few to a “sudden stop” that day due to an unrelated motorcycle crash.
At the time of her death, Frazer was running a household of her three children, along with a 2-year-old grandson and an elderly father who lived in a veterans nursing home in Menlo Park and waited weekly for his daughter to bring him snacks and do his laundry. She was popular around Discovery Bay and joined a Bible study group with other members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Witness testimony began Tuesday afternoon.
If you have had a car accident in Martinez, California call The Law Offices of Norman Gregory Fernandez for a free consultation at 800-816-1529
