Boy Testifies About Seeing Car Hit, Kill His Mother, Sister, 2 Others

A 13-year-old boy tearfully recalled in court Monday how his mother and sister and two other people were killed by a speeding car allegedly driven by a drunk driver.

Billy Cramer of Glendale described the July 13, 1988, incident during the Pasadena Superior Court trial of William Conway, 28, a former Glendale parks and recreation worker.

Conway faces four counts of gross vehicular manslaughter and two counts of causing an accident with injuries while driving under the influence of alcohol. If convicted, he could be sentenced to nearly 18 years in prison.

Killed were Valerie Cramer, 32, and her daughter Brianna, 9, and Patricia Carr, 36, and her daughter Caren, 6, all of Glendale. Billy Cramer, then 11 years old, survived but suffered a fractured finger and injured knee.

In opening statements Monday, Deputy Dist. Atty. James Rogan said Conway was drunk when he drove almost 80 m.p.h. down Canada Boulevard near Verdugo Road and hit the five pedestrians as they stood on a dirt traffic island waiting to cross the street after an evening stroll. “It was the type of evening that young mothers enjoying parenthood liked to create new memories,” he said.

In his testimony, which drew gasps from spectators, Cramer said he saw the car coming and dove out of the way just before it struck. “Yes,” he testified, after the dust cleared, he saw the bodies of his mother and sister.

Billy Cramer said he had been pushing his bicycle, which had a flat tire, when the group reached the island. They were waiting for the light to allow them to cross, he testified, when Patricia Carr made a comment to Caren. He looked up at Caren, he said--just in time to see a car traveling “fast” toward them.

He dove out of the way, pulling his bicycle with him, just before the car hit the group, he said. When the dust cleared, he said, breaking into tears, he saw the bodies of his mother and sister.

Elaine Dueker, who was waiting at a stoplight next to the island when Conway allegedly came speeding toward it, testified that “My first thought was and my words were, ‘he’s going to hit them.’ Then almost instantaneously, there was the dust cloud that engulfed my car, the thud and the cry of a boy: ‘Mommy, where are you?’ ”

Rogan told the six-man, six-woman jury that Louise Conway, William’s sister, called her brother to help her fix her flat tire in front of Mike’s Verdugo Room, a bar less than a mile from the accident scene. After Louise drove away, Rogan said, William entered the bar--then left drunk three hours later in his mother’s 1974 blue Chevy Nova.

Blood and breath analysis tests within two hours of the accident showed that Conway’s blood-alcohol level was as high as 0.15%, the prosecutor said. At the time of the accident, it was illegal to drive with a blood-alcohol level of 0.10% or higher, since reduced to 0.08%.

Testimony by William Cramer and Patrick Carr, whose wives and daughters died in the accident, brought tears from many of the 25 spectators Monday.

Virginia Conway, the defendant’s mother, also cried frequently during the four hours of court proceedings. Her son, wearing a sweater and slacks, sat motionless at the counsel table as several witnesses testified that they saw his car traveling at “freeway speed” before hitting the island.

Billy Cramer’s testimony also brought debate on what could become a key issue in the case: How many seconds passed from the time Billy saw the car approaching until the time it struck.

Under cross-examination by public defender Michael Allensworth, Billy agreed he had testified in a hearing last January that five to 10 seconds had passed. But Rogan argued that after the boy gave that time estimate, he participated in an informal courtroom experiment that showed the interval was actually no more than two seconds.

Allensworth, who said he will make his opening statement after Rogan concludes his case, is expected to use the timing issue in his defense. He also is expected to contend that a defect in Conway’s car caused it to swerve and hit the pedestrians.

Rogan said he will call Virginia and Louise Conway to testify today and will end his prosecution by showing jurors a graphic police videotape of the accident scene.

“My fervent hope,” he told the jury, “is that your enthusiasm will not wane as the harsh reality of this case unfolds before you.”

The trial is expected to take about two weeks and may involve as many as 25 witnesses and experts, court officials said.