Man died in hours, doctor says
Posted on 03/13/2002 1:26:23 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Man died in hours, doctor says
Examiner: Victim stuck in windshield didn't live for days as witness said; murder charge stands
03/13/2002
The man who was left to die in a Fort Worth woman's car windshield succumbed to his injuries hours, not days, after being struck, the Tarrant County medical examiner said Tuesday.
Gregory Glenn Biggs, 37, was struck by a car driven by Chante J. Mallard, 25, in October and was left entangled in her windshield after she drove home and parked the car in her garage, police said.
Police said last week that Ms. Mallard left the man in her garage for days, apologizing to him but ignoring his pleas for help.
Ms. Mallard's attorney had challenged that police account saying the man had been alive for less than 24 hours in the garage.
Tarrant County Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani said Tuesday that Mr. Biggs, who suffered severe leg injuries, died hours after the accident.
"We have not come up with any definitive time frame, but it is certainly consistent with hours, not days," he said. "The body was not that decomposed at all. He wasn't hit that many days prior to being discovered."
After Mr. Biggs died, Ms. Mallard and at least one friend dumped his body in a nearby park, where he was found Oct. 27, police said.
Ms. Mallard, a nurse's aide who was fired after the murder charge became public last week, is being held in the Tarrant County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.
Attorneys in the case have been placed under a gag order by 371st District Judge James Wilson.
Before the gag order, Ms. Mallard's attorney, Mike Heiskell, said the accusations against her had been blown out of proportion.
Mr. Heiskell said that Ms. Mallard did not talk to Mr. Biggs while he was in her garage and that the body was there for less than 24 hours, not the three days contended by police.
The new information will not change the charge of murder, said Fort Worth police Lt. Duane Paul, a department spokesman.
"The amount of time, be it an hour or a day, does not matter because it appears she didn't do anything to come to the aid of Mr. Biggs," Lt. Paul said. "The amount of time is irrelevant."
He said the discrepancies in how long Mr. Biggs had been left in the garage were due to differing accounts from Ms. Mallard and the person who told police about her.
The woman who reported Ms. Mallard in February said Ms. Mallard giggled when she told her about hitting the man and leaving him in the garage for days.
Investigators questioned Ms. Mallard and arrested her Feb. 26.
Police said it is not uncommon for a witness and a suspect to have conflicting stories.
"Generally when a suspect comes and speaks with a detective, a lot of times the statements they provide are self-serving," Lt. Paul said. "We have to weigh ... the facts of the investigation."
Police said Ms. Mallard struck Mr. Biggs in October as he walked along U.S. Highway 287 near the Loop 820 split and drove home with him stuck in her windshield.
Mr. Biggs, a former school bus driver and bricklayer who was homeless at the time of the accident, was not dead, police said. Ms. Mallard left him trapped in her car, which she hid in the garage of her home on the South Side of Fort Worth, investigators said.
The case has been turned over to the Tarrant County district attorney's office, and Dr. Peerwani said he expects to provide a more exact time range next week after he reviews the investigators' findings.
E-mail dwitham@dallasnews.com
Um, helloooooo? Does this strike anyone as a bit stupid? The body wasn't decomposed so he must have died sooner? The longer he was alive the less decomposition there would be!
-bc
Only lived for hours? Is it 18 hours? So it only took 18 hours for the man that was launched head first through the windshield to die? While this poor, busted up guy groans in agony and trama shock, all this while the car sits in this monsters garage. The murder charge stands? No kidding!!
Outside of the Texas woman chasing her own kids around the house and drowning them, this has got to be the strangest most brutal story in a long long time.
Absolutely correct!!!!!!!
No, therefore its irrelevant to heinousness of her actions.
I completely agree. Do you know how much a windshield costs these days? Some people will do anything for a free ride.
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