Isaac Domingue was smoking outside Ballyhoo one night almost three years ago when he saw a car “fly” through the intersection of South Park and Michigan avenues.
The speeding car continued past the bar and restaurant on South Park Avenue and drove up onto the sidewalk. He saw the vehicle hit someone whose body got tossed into the air from the impact.
“It looked like a drunk driver,” Domingue said.
A memorial in honor of Sara Rogers, a bicyclist struck and killed by a driver in June 2022 on South Park Avenue near Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino. Two other bicyclists were injured.
The driver wasn’t drunk but may have been having a seizure. Her attorney argued that what happened was not a crime, but a tragic accident.
Domingue offered his description from the witness stand in Erie County Court Thursday as the trial began of Carmen Martin, the Buffalo woman accused of striking three bicyclists the night of June 17, 2022, on South Park near Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino, killing a woman and injuring two others.
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Sara Rogers, 29, a jazz musician who practiced music therapy working with children, died from blunt-force trauma injuries to her head less than an hour after Martin hit her, Assistant Erie County District Attorney Kristen Fischer told jurors.
About a dozen family members and friends of the victims were in court as the trial opened.
Prosecutors allege Martin committed criminally negligent homicide because she drove despite knowing she may suffer a seizure at any time. She’s also charged with two counts of assault for injuring the two other bicyclists. In addition, she’s charged with lying to the state Department of Motor Vehicles on two applications filed in March 2021 for permits to drive. The trial is expected to last about a week.
On Wednesday, Martin, 35, rejected a plea offer under which she would admit guilt for all counts, except one of the DMV application charges. In exchange, County Judge Susan Eagan said she would have given Martin two years of incarceration.
In terms of what happened while Martin was behind the wheel, her defense attorneys argued to the jury what their client did was not a crime.
Martin could feel a seizure coming on, so she pulled over and took her medication, defense attorney Jeffrey Krajewski told jurors in his opening statement. Martin, a mother of three, doesn’t recall what happened after that, Krajewski said.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Martin told several people she had suffered seizures her entire life and was taking medication for her condition, according to prosecutors.
At the time she made those statements, her attorney said Martin was “in shock” – some might have even called it “frazzled,” “dazed” or “confused,” said Krajewski. He urged jurors to keep a “critical perspective.”
“Is this the behavior of a criminal? Is this a criminal act?” the defense attorney said.
After being told in the hospital after the crash by a Buffalo police investigator that two people were severely injured and another died, she was asked if she had any questions.
“Her response was, ‘When can I get my car back?’” Fischer said.
Data recovered from the vehicle by Buffalo police showed Martin’s car was traveling 51 mph five seconds before it crashed into a parked vehicle on South Park after hitting the bicyclists, according to prosecutors. A little more than two seconds before Martin’s car hit the parked vehicle, it was traveling 54 mph.
Martin never applied the brakes, Fischer told jurors. Witnesses told investigators Martin was the only person in the car when they approached after it crashed, the prosecutor said.
Blood tests showed Martin had her seizure medication in her system. There were no drugs or alcohol found in the tests.
Martin’s case almost avoided a jury trial.
Martin pleaded guilty in June to the criminally negligent homicide and assault charges. But in August, Eagan pulled back on a sentencing pledge of six months in jail and five years of probation. The judge said her change of heart came after she obtained “a fuller picture” of injuries and losses suffered, as conveyed in victim impact statements she read.
In September, Martin withdrew her guilty plea. She was supposed to go on trial in October, but it was pushed back after prosecutors disclosed the name of a witness four days before the trial was to start.
Things also went a bit astray just before the jurors entered the courtroom Thursday morning. As attorneys and the judge discussed the prior day’s plea offer, Martin told the judge she felt “pressed” regarding the plea offer.
“I feel like I’m lying on a Bible, and I’m Christian,” she said.
Martin also seemed to question the ability of a person having a seizure to drive in a vehicle the length that hers did. She said there was “no way” she could have started driving her car again, possibly a reference to having pulled over to take her medication.
“They cannot prove I was driving that car,” she said.
Eagan said she wanted to address Martin’s behavior, including an “outburst” a day earlier when Martin spoke directly to a juror. The judge said she also heard Martin in the hallway yelling from inside a conference room.
If Martin, who is not in custody, in any way tries to impair the proceedings or communicate with a juror, “I will immediately place you in custody,” Eagan said.
