Arrest made in death of Good Samaritan

By Bill Byrd
Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT August 12, 2008 12:24 am

— State Police have arrested a Morgantown man in connection with the death last year of a Marion County man who was being a Good Samaritan at an Interstate 79 accident.
Roscoe E. Stewart, 29, of 1104 Lakeside Village is charged with drunken driving resulting in death “without recklessness” and first-offense drunken driving. Stewart is also charged with third-offense driving on a suspended license.
Stewart was arrested last Friday, just one day short of a year since the Aug. 9, 2007, accident that killed Jonathan Wilson, 31, of Barrackville. The three offenses Stewart is charged with are misdemeanors, subject to a one-year statute of limitations.
The accident happened around 3:50 a.m. that Thursday near the 145 mile marker and a bridge in the southbound lanes of the interstate, said Trooper S.R. Morgan of the Morgantown detachment in his complaint.
According to the trooper’s criminal complaint, Wilson had gotten out of his car to help Stewart.
Stewart’s vehicle was stopped in the left-hand, or passing lane. Stewart had “crashed his vehicle on the interstate,” the complaint states.
While Wilson was trying to help Stewart, he was struck by a car behind him that was also traveling south.
“While the pedestrian (Wilson) was attempting to help the defendant, Vehicle No. 2 was traveling south on I-79 in the left, fast lane and did not observe Vehicle No. 1,” the complaint states.
“Ultimately, Vehicle No. 2 struck Vehicle No. 1, which caused the pedestrian (Wilson) to fall from the bridge down onto Tom’s Run Road,” it states.
State Police at the time identified the driver of the second vehicle as a Louis Smith. Smith’s age and residence were unavailable at the time.
Stewart had a blood alcohol content of .133, according to medical records Tpr. Morgan later got from the hospital.
Wilson was pronounced dead at Ruby Memorial Hospital.
Davey Blair, Wilson’s next-door neighbor in Barrackville and a friend since both men were 16, said later that day that Wilson and a co-worker were driving home from their jobs at the Fort Martin power plant.
Blair said Wilson’s decision to stop and be a Good Samaritan was a lifelong trait.
“That’s what God used him for, random acts of kindness — always,” Blair said in a Times West Virginian story last year.
State Police apparently did not file charges against the driver of the second vehicle in the accident.
Reporters on Monday were referred to Monongalia County Prosecutor Marcia Ashdown’s office. Ashdown is on vacation this week, a secretary said.
Stewart is being held in the North Central Regional Jail. A Monongalia County magistrate set his bonds at $5,000 cash or surety each on the drunken driving charge and the third-offense driving on a suspended license charge.
Stewart’s bond on the drunken driving resulting in death without recklessness charge is $15,000 cash or surety, according to court records.
E-mail Bill Byrd at bbyrd@timeswv.com.