Driver in Martin Crash Identified by Witnesses

A Detroit bar owner charged with drunk driving in the wreck that killed Billy Martin was behind the wheel when the baseball manager’s pickup truck crashed, witnesses testified today.

But William Reedy’s defense lawyer said he would prove that his client only told investigators he was the driver to protect Martin.

Reedy, 53, owner of Reedy’s Bar near Tiger Stadium, is charged with driving while intoxicated in the accident that took Martin’s life on Christmas Day last year.

Reedy and Martin had a longtime friendship and “as a result of that friendship, there was nothing he wouldn’t do for Billy Martin,” defense lawyer Jon Blechman told a six-member jury as Reedy’s trial got under way in the Town of Fenton Court.

“When the accident happened, Bill Reedy thought, ‘Billy’s got himself in trouble again. I’ve got to help my friend,’ ” said Blechman, who added that Reedy did not learn until several hours later that Martin had been killed in the crash.

Among the first witnesses called today by Broome County Assistant Dist. Atty. Kevin Guyette were members of the family that found Martin’s pickup truck on its side in the ditch in front of his farm, and the first sheriff’s deputy on the scene.

Brent Piech, 14, told jurors that he and his family were returning from doing chores at a nearby farm when they saw the pickup truck in the ditch.

While his mother rushed to a nearby house to summon an ambulance, Piech and his father tried to aid the accident victims, he testified.

He said Martin was pinned against the passenger-side door with Reedy on top of him.