Rutland Herald
Anthony Edwards / Staff Photo
Michael Debellis, 27, of Killington, pleaded
innocent Monday in Rutland criminal court to a felony charge in
connection with the death of Kyle Wilson, 26, of Enfield, N.H.
“I heard a noise and immediately saw something roll over the passenger side of the car,” 27-year-old Michael P. Debellis wrote in a sworn statement. “I slowed down and looked around to see if anything was on the side of the road and did not see anything. (Debellis’ girlfriend) and I were both completely in shock and Emily was crying but OK physically so I continued home and parked the vehicle.”
Debellis wrote in the sworn statement he gave to Vermont State Police investigators that he was travelling at about 30 mph on a darker stretch of Killington Road at about 1:20 a.m. when the crash occurred.
He said he didn’t learn until more than 12 hours later that police had found the body of Kyle Wilson, a 26-year-old Enfield, N.H., man by the side of the road near the spot where Debellis said the crash took place.
Wilson’s friends told police that he had been out for the evening and called at about 1 a.m. to say he was walking home. When he didn’t return, his friends decided to look for him the next day and were the ones who found his body, police said.
Debellis pleaded innocent Monday in Rutland criminal court to a felony charge of leaving the scene of a fatal crash. The Killington snowmaker, who has no prior record, posted bail of $25,000 before he appeared in court and he remains free on that amount, along with court-ordered conditions that include he not operate a motor vehicle or possess or consume alcoholic beverages.
Police say Debellis was driving his girlfriend’s car, a black 2003 Volkswagen Jetta, from the Pickle Barrel bar, where they’d seen a musical performance, to their apartment on Currier Road when the crash occurred. Police said the car had extensive damage to the passenger side front bumper, headlamp, hood, windshield, roof, passenger side door and roof rack.
Debellis told police he’d had three drinks between 10:30 p.m. and 12:15 a.m. — a beer and two mixed drinks — and refrained from drinking for more than an hour before getting behind the wheel to drive home. “There’s no evidence that he was under the influence at all,” Debellis’ defense attorney Mark Furlan said during his arraignment in Rutland criminal court.
Vermont State Police Trooper Steven Gelder also said no alcohol was detected on Debellis’ breath. But the test that police administered was performed more than 12 hours after the time when Debellis said the crash occurred.
The prosecution and the defense also argued over where Wilson was in the road when he was struck.
While the police affidavit filed with the court gives no indication of where Wilson was walking when he was struck, Furlan told the court it “appeared he was in the middle of the road.”
When Deputy Rutland County State’s Attorney Jane O’Neill said she hadn’t seen that detail in any of the court paperwork, Furlan said his reading of the investigation suggested that Wilson must have been in the lane of travel.
There were also arguments in court Monday over contact between Debellis and his girlfriend, Emily Tredtin.
Debellis and his girlfriend gave similar accounts of the crash to police.
But while Debellis told police he believed he hit an animal such as a deer or a bear, or even a construction barrel, Tredtin told police she thought the crash might have involved a pedestrian and that she had told her boyfriend so.
“It was really dark outside, but I thought I might have seen what looked like a human butt or thought maybe it was some type of animal,” Tredtin wrote in a statement given to police. “I was freaking out, we were both freaking out. We didn’t know what to do so we just kept going. We just wanted to get home.”
Tredtin told police that Debellis was still “trying to process what happened” the next day and that he wanted to report it.
At just before 1 p.m., Debellis told police he called an off-duty police officer and asked if he’d heard anything about something being found in the road. That officer contacted state police who were already investigating the crash shortly before noon Sunday. State police had been notified by Wilson’s friends of the crash earlier in the day.
Debellis told police he never saw anything in the road before the impact, and he said he may have been distracted by a blinking light near Schoolhouse Road.
The crash remains under investigation by police, who are awaiting results from a crash reconstruction analysis and an autopsy of Wilson. A police spokeswoman said Monday it’s unclear whether Wilson would have survived the crash if it had been immediately reported and medical responders had been called.
State Police said in Gelder’s affidavit that evidence existed to support a charge of grossly negligent operation with death resulting against Debellis. Rutland County State’s Attorney Marc Brierre, who was not in court during Debellis’ arraignment, could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.
1 comment:
First get your story right... It was not a dark stretch of road.. it was 1/10 of a mile from the pickle barrel where he was struck. It is completely lit up plus the headlights of his car. Kyle was struck on his left calf leg first and went up into the windshield. Extensive damage to the car , front windshield pushed in and shattered 6". The passenger side window completely blown out. If he were in the middle of the road then so was Debellis. But it was proven that he was walking on the right hand side of the road in the brake down lane. ( There was no snow that weekend) completely clear night. Debellis knew exactly what he did and so did his lying girlfriend.
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