The man accused in a 2018 fatal vehicle accident was tasting bourbons with a friend the night before he struck another car while traveling the wrong direction on Highway 111, according to testimony Tuesday.
Justin Whaley, 42, is facing multiple criminal charges after he was in a fatal vehicle accident at about 5:40 a.m. July 3, 2018, that killed James Brumlow, 36.
Jurors heard opening arguments Tuesday in the case against Whaley, who is a former Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office reserve deputy and served in Iraq as part of the U.S. Marine Corps. He also previously worked as an emergency medical technician until he decided to open a business, his attorneys said.
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The friend Whaley was drinking with, David Taylor, testified Tuesday that Whaley was not intoxicated and went to his home with plans to stay the night. Whaley arrived at Taylor’s house at 9 p.m., and the two sampled from six bottles of bourbon, having a glass from each. Taylor estimated the glasses contained between one and two shots of alcohol. They were snacking throughout the evening.
“The object was to do a tasting, not to get drunk,” Taylor said.
Whaley and Taylor stopped drinking a little before 1 a.m., and Parker Garrett, assistant district attorney in the Hamilton County Attorney General’s Office, said Whaley slept for about 3 1/2 to four hours on Taylor’s couch before getting up around 5:15 a.m., which Whaley’s attorney, Lee Davis, said was a typical waking hour given Whaley’s time in the Marines.
Whaley was not impaired at the time of the accident and was driving his Ford F-150 on a confusing interchange at an unlit portion of the highway in the early morning, Davis said. Whaley called 911 after the accident and stayed on the scene while emergency personnel rendered aid. The accident itself was 100% Whaley’s fault, Davis said.
“All of us, God forbid, have made a mistake on a one-way street somewhere like Chattanooga or some other place,” Davis said during the trial. “Most of the time, it’s inconsequential. You look at it and you go, ‘Oh my gosh, I was going the wrong way.’ This is the lightning strike. This is the 1-in-a-1,000 or 1-in-10,000 or 1-in-100,000. He misunderstood, and he made a mistake. … The proof will be alcohol had nothing to do with this.”
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Brumlow was driving to work when he was struck by Whaley, who had made a U-turn after missing his exit and started going the wrong way on a divided highway separated by a concrete barrier, according to prosecutors.
During the afternoon portion of the trial Tuesday, prosecutors played a seven-minute 911 call where Whaley explained to a dispatcher the events that led to the accident, telling her that Brumlow was going to have to be extracted from the car. Whaley also spoke to Brumlow.
“Hey buddy, EMS is coming,” Whaley said on the call. “We’re coming to get you, OK bud? Do not move. Do not move … The ambulance is coming. Please do not move at all. Just relax.”
Brumlow’s loved ones were in the audience and wore green flowers pinned to the front of their clothing. Several sobbed and stepped out of the room as they heard Whaley speak to Brumlow on the recording.
Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Martin Penny, who was then a K-9 handler with the Soddy-Daisy Police Department, was among the officers called out to the crash site on Highway 111 and testified he could smell a strong odor of alcohol on Whaley when he spoke with him at the scene. Penny knew the defendant from Whaley’s prior job as a paramedic.
Reading from a previous written statement, Penny testified that Whaley told him he had “f—ed up” and didn’t know how he ended up driving the wrong way on the road. A juror asked Penny if he told anyone about the alcohol smell before he left.
“I honestly don’t recall,” Penny said. “Something like that I would have noted and based on the way I worked — and I worked for the past 31 1/2 years — I’m certain that I did, but I cannot say with absolute certainty that I did.”
Jurors also saw body camera footage from one of the responding Soddy-Daisy police officers, Jeremy Wright, who placed Whaley in his patrol car. Whaley was allowed to text his wife as he was taken into custody, and he was handcuffed with his arms in front.
Whaley reiterated in the footage the accident was his fault and didn’t know how he ended up on the wrong side of the road. Whaley said he was not under the influence of narcotics or alcohol. Wright didn’t smell alcohol on Whaley until he placed him in the vehicle, the trooper said.
Whaley was indicted in 2019 and is charged with vehicular homicide, reckless driving, driving under the influence and reckless vehicular homicide. He is pleading not guilty to all 10 counts.
A blood draw occurred four hours after the accident, prosecutors said. Whaley’s attorneys questioned why officers didn’t conduct a field sobriety test on scene or use the breathalyzer machine at the Soddy-Daisy Police Department, where Whaley was transported after the accident and stayed for about 90 minutes.
Whaley had a blood alcohol level of .02%, according to his test results. The legal limit in Tennessee is .08%.
“None of these initial responders do anything in regards to field sobriety tests or anything that you would expect if you had somebody who’s an impaired driver,” Davis said during his opening remarks. “Almost everybody who comes into contact with Justin at the scene out here says he’s acting appropriately. He looks appropriate. He’s rendering assistance. Most thought he was there as an EMT.”
Whaley became a volunteer reserve deputy for the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office in March 2016. He was not a full-time paid deputy and resigned in October 2017 after not being able to fulfill the number of required volunteer hours, according to prior Chattanooga Times Free Press reporting.
Contact David Floyd at dfloyd@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.