Eden Muina
A Summerville, Ga., man testified Tuesday that he did not see a Volkswagen beetle driven by a Berry College student on Sept. 11, 2021, prior to the crash in which student Eden Muina was killed.
Brian Cargle told a jury at the Walker County Courthouse, "I will feel guilty for this the rest of my life, but it doesn't mean it was my fault."
Cargle is charged with misdemeanor vehicular homicide second-degree and failure to yield.
The defendant said he was turning left off U.S. 27 south of LaFayette in the early morning when another vehicle that he did not see collided with his Ford F150 truck.
He said the lights were off on the VW, and afterward an officer turned them on, then back off.
Cargle said after the impact, "I look up and see this car with no lights on."
He told the jury, "I was about to collapse I was shocked so bad," but he said he went over to check on the other driver. He said, "I put my hand on her head and asked, "Are you okay?"
Then he said he heard the phone ringing in his truck and saw that it was his daughter, who had just driven by the wreck scene.
The defendant said it was very dark at the scene of the wreck. "You couldn't see that black car."
He said another Roper worker had been getting ready to turn right going south on U.S. 27. He said she told him that if he had not had the collision then she would have been killed by the car she also had not seen.
His daughter Melanie Cargle said of the wreck location that it was "incredibly dark - no moon, no stars, no street lights."
The defendant's brother, James Cargle, said he came to the scene after his brother called him at the nearby plant. He said once onsite he asked about the VW, "Why aren't the lights on?"
He said, "There was a cop who stooped down and turned on the lights. Afterward, it seemed like he had gotten his hand caught in the cookie jar."
Spencer Johnson, who said he has ties to the Cargle family, said he stopped at the wreck and helped a paramedic get the jammed door open on the VW. He said the wreck victim had severe injuries, but he said her cell phone was still in her hand and was lit up.
He said, "The headlights on the car were not on at all." He also said he saw an officer turn on the lights.
John Muina, the victim's father, said they had gotten the VW Beetle from a lot on Highway 58, and he said his daughter loved it. He said she kept meticulous records of all its maintenance items.
He said the night before the wreck the family had gone out to a Mexican restaurant. He said his daughter went out to Applebees with a new boyfriend afterward. He said she had to get up the next morning around 4 a.m. to get ready to go to a job in the stables at Berry.
He said he and his wife got up to see her off, and saw that the car was leaving their home on Barnhardt Circle in Fort Oglethorpe.
The father said he and his wife learned about the wreck when an officer showed up at their front door. He said they then proceeded to Erlanger Hospital, but it was still several hours until they found out the extent of her injuries.
He said, despite it being COVID conditions, that he and his wife, son and the boyfriend were allowed to go back to see Eden. He said she was not able to communicate with them and there was blood coming from her mouth.
They were told that Eden had such severe brain damage that "a miracle was not going to happen." He and his wife made the decision the next night to take their 20-year-old daughter off life support.