Three men who were among the first at the scene of a 2013 accident that claimed the life of two Oak Harbor girls did what they could to help the victims, they testified in court Thursday.
Twin sisters, 17-year-old Janeah and Janesah Goheen, died as a result of the Halloween night crash on State Highway 20 near Anacortes. Their friend, Alysha Pickler of Oak Harbor, suffered a concussion.
Brian Cantrell, an Oak Harbor resident, described how he helped the girl in the driver’s seat — Janesah Goheen — to start breathing by pressing on her chest. He said that she was trapped inside the crumbled car and badly injured.
“I just held her head,” he said. “I prayed with her. I told her (that) her parents loved her.”
She later died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Ira Blackstock, 55, of Oak Harbor, is on trial in Skagit County Superior Court on two counts of vehicular homicide and one count of vehicular assault. He’s accused of causing the collision by driving recklessly.
Blackstock was driving a 2006 Ford Mustang south on Highway 20 from the direction of Sharpes Corner and lost control near the intersection of Gibralter Road. The car fishtailed, crossed the centerline and struck the Goheens’ oncoming 1993 Acura.
Much of the trial, which is scheduled for two weeks, will likely involve expert testimony.
Detective Ed Collins with the Washington State Patrol spent much of Thursday testifying about his analysis of the “powertrain control module” on Blackstock’s 2006 Ford Mustang. The data from the electronic module captured the car’s speed as well as the positions of the accelerator, the throttle and the brakes in the 24 seconds before the crash, he said.
He testified that the car accelerated from 55 mph to 85 mph before losing control.
On cross examination, Blackstock’s attorney, Tom Fryer of Bellingham, questioned Collins about evidence of sticking accelerators on Ford Mustangs. He had the detective read a series of narratives of unintentional acceleration from other owners of Ford Mustangs.
Fryer emphasized that the data showed that there was a delay between the time Blackstock backed off on the accelerator pedal and when the throttle actually decreased.
Collins, however, said he believes the data didn’t show evidence of unintended acceleration. He said he would have expected to see evidence of brakes being applied during the acceleration.
“He depressed it for a long period of time,” he said, referring to the accelerator. “I believe he intended to accelerate fast — and that’s what he got.”
Fryer also questioned Collins about his conclusion that the car was going 85 mph. He pointed out that the data showed the “axel speed” and not necessarily the actual speed of the car; the size of the tires and other factors can affect the data, he said.
Mike Shea of Anacortes witnessed the crash and testified that Blackstock’s car “accelerated rapidly” as it passed by him just moments before the collision. Shea was in the left-turn lane at Gibralter.
He said the Mustang started sliding around the corner — the roads were wet — and then fishtailed. He didn’t see the other car until the crash.
“It looked like an explosion,” he said.
Oak Harbor resident Dale Greenwood testified that he was driving behind the Mustang, which accelerated up the hill until it was out of sight. He came around the corner into “a huge cloud of smoke” and debris strewn across the highway.
He described the massive damage to the Acura, which had flown into the ditch.
“It was barely recognizable as a car,” he said.
He said that the girl in the backseat, Janeah Goheen, was dead from obvious injuries. He thought the driver was dead until she gasped for breath.
He said the other passenger — Pickler — was confused and wanted to get out, so he helped her to the road and stayed with her until help arrived.
Cantrell testified that the scene “looked like a bomb went off.” He first waded into a detention pond on the side of the road to help Blackstock, who was conscious and speaking.
After helping him get out, Cantrell said he went to the other car to help.
