Justin Whaley trial begins with questioning of numerous officers

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – The trial of a contentious case involving a former EMT charged with vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated finally began on Tuesday at the Hamilton County Courthouse.

The crash occurred at the Highway 27/111 interchange in Soddy-Daisy on July 3, 2018, and took the life of James Brumlow. 

The prosecution says they believe Whaley was intoxicated at the time of the crash. They say he drank six glasses of bourbon whiskey the night before. 

Hamilton County Assistant District Attorney Parker Garrett told the jury, “I want you to remember throughout the course of this trial, this case is about the defendant, and the decisions that he made, and the consequences of his decisions.”

On the other side, the defense argued that they believe Whaley was not intoxicated at the time of the crash.

Justin Whaley sitting at the defense’s consul table, the defendant of the case in a wrong way fatal crash in July 2018 in Soddy-Daisy that led to the death of James Brumlow.

Whaley’s defense attorney, Lee Davis, told the jury, “You folks are the very first people who have ever heard Mr. Whaley’s side of the story.”

Two key pieces of evidence were shown during the afternoon.

The first piece was a 911 call that Whaley himself made directly right after the crash occurred at 5:40 a.m. that morning.

He referenced his experience as an EMT.

In the call, the 911 operator asked, “And what is the other vehicle?”

Whaley responded, “I can’t tell, um, I can’t get even get access to the vehicle, they’re going to have to do extrication.”

During this phone call, several of Brumlow’s family openly wept and had to leave briefly to compose themselves.

A former Soddy-Daisy police officer, Marvin Penny testified when he came onto the crash scene and recognized Whaley from his time as an EMT, he testified, “I asked him, ‘Justin, what’s going on,’ and he looked at me and said, ‘I (expletive) up.'”

The body cam of Soddy-Daisy Police Officer Jeremy Wright was played as well, as he was the officer who detained Whaley after the crash.

He says he smelled alcohol on Whaley when he placed him in the backseat of his patrol car but denies smelling it anywhere including inside of a police booking room.

One of the contentious issues raised by the defense is why a breathalyzer test was not conducted immediately on the crash site.

Wright said, “I was under the understanding that it was an ongoing investigation, I wasn’t real clear on why, why, to release him.”

At the end of day one, the state still has not rested their case and has several more witnesses to bring up.

The defense has indicated they will bring several witnesses of their own including a crash re-constructionist to rebuild the crash scene.

The jury will be taken to various sites related to this incident including the Highway 27 and Highway 111 interchange in Soddy-Daisy.