The wife of a man charged with firing a shot that left a man a quadriplegic testified Wednesday that her husband, Kevin Chitty, told her just after the incident that the other man had pointed a gun at him.
Still shaken from what had happened, Gloria Chitty said she had paraphrased her husband's words on the initial report. She said Wednesday that she remembered Chitty specifically saying that he thought Jerry Martin had pointed a gun at him first. However, on a police report, she wrote that Chitty said the man “pointed something at me first.”
Chitty is standing trial in the courtroom of Judge Don Poole on charges of attempted second-degree murder and aggravated assault.
Gloria Chitty was in a car in front of her husband when he was rear-ended by the Martin vehicle at Jersey Pike and Bonny Oaks Drive on Thanksgiving 2011.
Prosecutor Cameron Williams intensely questioned her use of the word “something” instead of specifically writing “gun.” Mrs. Chitty said that she was simply rephrasing what her husband had said to explain the situation in her own words. Attorney Lee Davis objected, saying that prosecutor Williams was intimidating the witness.
Mrs. Chitty continued to give an emotional account of the Thanksgiving events. She said tearfully “Forgive me to put it this way, but I don't know another way to say it, all hell broke loose.” She said that while she did not hear a gunshot, she saw Martin's Oldsmobile go past them and wreck. Next, she saw her husband looking extremely distressed, pacing back and forth. She said that he told her, “I hope I didn't hit nobody, but he didn't give me a choice. He didn't give me a choice.”
They called 911 immediately. After the police arrived, Mrs. Chitty says that not only was her husband immediately arrested, but that her 18-year-old son Jalen was thrown onto the ground and handcuffed as well.
Kevin Chambers, the defendant's nephew, said that while he had originally indicated to police that he thought that his uncle had held the gun and that he had seen the man who was shot, he explained Wednesday that he had actually seen these things himself. He said that was what members of his family had said and that he believed them. He was 17 years old and riding with Gloria Chitty when the incident happened.
Terrence Brooks, a cousin by marriage who was also riding with Mrs. Chitty, said that Martin hit the F150 truck that his uncle was driving so hard that the truck would have hit their car if Mrs. Chitty had not driven forward.
When the nurse who had been nearby during the incident, Diondra Pointer, testified the prosecution showed the jury and the witness photographs of Martin's neck wound. She said that she had not seen a gun in possession of the victim.
Also testifying were Chitty's sons, Nicholas and Jalen.
Judge Poole said he believes that the trial will conclude on Thursday.