Teen denies street racing on fatal night

Suspects in deaths allowed bond

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008

Prosecutors said that Darren Jamar Bullock, 21, and Tavon J. Taylor, 18, staged an illegal street race near another race where more than 200 spectators were gathered. While the crowd was watching the other race at 3 a.m. Feb. 16 on Indian Head Highway near Pine Drive, Bullock’s car plowed into the crowd, killing eight and injuring eight others, authorities said.

The two men were indicted July 29 on eight counts of vehicular manslaughter as well as reckless driving and racing. Bullock turned himself in to police the next day and Taylor was arrested by the Charles County Sheriff’s Office that afternoon, the same day he signed a statement.

Law enforcement officials said Taylor admitted to being involved in the illegal race in the signed statement.

J. Wyndal Gordon, an attorney for Taylor, said his client was not racing Bullock at the time of the accident and that Taylor intends to plead not guilty.

‘‘There was no race going on that night,” Gordon said after the hearing. ‘‘My client happened upon the scene of an accident and tried to help.”

Gordon said Taylor was questioned without an attorney after his arrest last week and that he was ‘‘coerced” into signing a statement about participating in the alleged race.

‘‘Law enforcement double-crossed him,” he said.

At a bond hearing Monday in Upper Marlboro, Bullock and Taylor were given a choice of home detention or paying bonds.

Bail for Bullock and Taylor was set at $200,000 and $120,000, respectively.

Because the two men had no prior violent offenses, they could apply to waive the bond if they agreed to home detention, Judge William Missouri said. Bullock posted bail and was released, while Taylor remained in the Prince George’s County jail as of press time Tuesday.

Gordon said his client will opt for bail instead of home detention. Taylor was scheduled to start his freshman year at Delaware State University starting next week, the attorney said.

Until the indictment was issued, Bullock and others close to him had told police he was traveling the speed limit and was not involved in the race when he struck the crowd of onlookers in his white Ford Crown Victoria.

Bullock’s relatives declined to comment when reached last week at his home. Taylor’s mother, Paula, denied her son’s involvement.

‘‘My son had nothing to do with that. Nothing,” she said.

At the bail hearing, prosecutors told the judge that the two men ‘‘deceived” investigators about their race, which was allegedly caught on tape by a nearby security camera.

Prosecutors said they learned through camera footage shot nearby and other witnesses that the two young men were racing some distance away on the same road as the gathering and apparently misjudged the distance they would need to slow down.

Taylor, who was allegedly driving a green Mercury Grand Marquis against Bullock that night, did not hit any of the spectators.

A source close to the investigation alleged the two men raced at speeds up to 110 mph with their cars’ headlights turned off to avoid disrupting the main race.

Gordon said Taylor was returning home from a band practice with a friend when he came to the accident scene and said he has seen no evidence against his client.

‘‘My understanding is that they interviewed more than 80 people and have about 10 witnesses,” the Baltimore defense attorney said. He said there are likely others who could clear his client. ‘‘That means there are at least 70-plus witnesses who may have something exculpatory.”

John McKenna, Bullock’s attorney, did not return calls seeking comment.

Prince George’s State’s Attorney spokesman Ramon Korionoff declined to comment on Gordon’s statements Monday.

‘‘We’ll prove our case in court,” he said.