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SPECIAL EDITION

A SPECIAL EDITION OF

@2011: iRing—tum

WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA

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ifilti

DECEMBER 4, 1989

Senior confesses
in hit-and-run case

Anonymous tip leads police to Blake Comer

By Genienne Mongno
Associate Editor

Washington and Lee senior Charles B.
“Blal<e" Comer has admitted to police that he
drove the ear involved in the March l6 hit—
and—run death of freshman Mary Ashley Scar—
borough.

Comer, 21, was arrested Thursday and
charged with hit—and—run and involuntary
manslaughter. He withdrew from school Sun-
day night, according to W&L Communications
Director Brian Shaw.

Lexington Police Officer Jerry R. Knick
said a tip received Wednesday from an uniden—
tified W&L graduate led to Comer’s arrest.

According to Knick, the informant told
police Comer was driving a metallic blue
Honda Accord belonging to his parents on the
night of the accident. He said also the car
could be found at the Comer’s home in Green-
ville, S.C.

Police said the caller showed little interest
in the Sl0,000 reward offered by Scar-
borough’s parents for information concerning
the incident.

Comer told police Thursday he was behind

Police matched a horn cover found at 1‘
covers the hole below the car's right ‘

cdent site with the Comer’s car. That part
._ .,.*ial. Staff illustrations by Jeff Woodland.

the wheel of the car when it hit Scarborough.
He said he did not stop because he was “sca—
red to death and didn’t know what to do."

Police said they think Comer tried to cover
up evidence of the accident by taking the car
to the Washington area to replace the wind‘
shield, which had been cracked. The car was
then returned to South Carolina, police said.

The car’s horn cover was found at the
scene of the accident. This and other debris,
including paint chips, led police to determine
that the car was an ‘86 or ‘87 metallic blue
Honda Accord.

During the eight—month investigation, police
checked all the Accords registered to W&L
students and local residents.

Police said Comer was eliminated as a sus-
pect early in the investigation because police
found no damage on his car, a dark blue ‘87
Accord.

One of Comer’s brothers had driven up to

Lexington in the parents’ metal“: blue car the
week Scarborough was killed.

Thursday afternoon, police notified Assis»
tant Dean of Students Kenneth Ruscio that
they suspected Comer.

After police obtained permission from uni-
versity officials to question Comer on campus,
Assistant Dean of Students Kenneth Ruscio
located Comer in the Commerce School, where
he was in class.

Ruscio took Comer to the Dean of Stu—
dents’ office, where he met with Lexington
Police Chief Bruce Beard. The meeting was
continued at police headquarters, and Comer
was arrested there.

Ruscio said Comer was extremely coopera-
tive in the meeting with Beard.

Knick said Comer’s parents, Braxton and
Charlene Comer, were stunned when officers
showed up at their home Thursday with a
warrant for the car.

“Naturally they were upset, kind ..~; It‘.
disbelief,” he said.

At Comer’s fraternity, Phi Delta Theta,
chapter President Warren Holland said, “at the
house there is an attitude of disbelief and
shock. The tragedy is obvious. We plan to give
Blake as much support as we can and stay
together as a house.”

Comer was released from custody Friday
after his parents posted the $50,000 bond
through a bondsman. He was allowed to return
to Greenville with his parents.

A preliminary hearing in the Lexington
General District Court is tentatively set for
Dec. 26.

If convicted, Comer could be sentenced to
up to five years in prison for hit—and—run and
10 years for involuntary manslaughter.

Because Comer has withdrawn from school
but has not yet been convicted of any crime,
he will remain a student in good standing

regardless of the outcome of the case, Shaw
said.

Beard said there could be more arrests if
investigators determine that there were passen-
gers in Comer’s car at the time of the aeci»
dent.

He also said anyone who learned about the
accident but concealed information about it
could be charged as an accessory after the fact
or with aiding and abetting a crime.

Knick said the police will continue to
investigate even if no one besides Comer was
involved.

Comer’s parents have hired Lexington
lawyer Thomas Spencer to represent their son.

“He and his parents are distraught not only
for themselves but for the woman [Scarbor-
ough] and her parents," said Spencer. “What
can you do? How can you make things right
under the circumstances, if hc’s guilty?”

To our readers

This special edition of The Ring-tum Phi was published in
response to overwhelming interest in the events of recent
days and in an attempt to clear up incorrect rumors and
provide accurate information about the Blake Comer case.

This issue was compiled and produced by Ring-tum Phi
Editors Gregory Euston and Stacy Morrison, Associate
Editors James Lake and Genienne Mongno, Senior Copy
Editor Brian Root, Cartoonist Jeff Woodland and Staff
Reporters Carrie Davis and Nick Thompson.

The Ring-tum Phi would like to thank Prof. Hampden
Smith and Prof. John Jennings of the W&L journalism
department, Keith Humphnies of WDBJ Television, W&L
~Communications Director Brian Shaw and the staff of the
University Print Shop for their assistance.

Last tip just jailhouse talk

By Gregory Euston
Editor

The story about possible suspects
in the Scarborough case that was
printed in The Ring-tum Phi Thursday
was not fabricated by police, said
Lexington Police Chief Bruce M.
Beard.

“It ended up being just jailhouse
talk,” said Beard, “but we had to
check it out as fact."

According to Lexington Police
Officer Jerry Knick, he had been
working on the tip from an inmate at
the state penitcntary in Richmond
about a month before he contacted
The Phi.

Knick told reporter Nick Thomp-
son that, according to the tip, diree
black males robbed a white male

about 5~foot—S inches tall in the East
Nelson Street area about three min-
utes before Scarborough was killed.

The tip further said the robbers
fled on foor to a car similar to the
suspected vehicle. The car is said to
have fled the area at a high rate of
speed.

The alleged robbery of $250, a
wallet and a gold chain was never
reported.

Lexington police contacted The
Phi because they had been unable to
identify the robbery victim, according
to Beard.

“The accident took place on a
party night,” said Beard, and since a
lot of students are out on a Wednes-
day night, the police believed a stu-
dent may have been the victim of the
robbery.

“He gave us a good song and

dance, said Beard of the Richmond
informant. Beard siad they have
received several similar tips from
convicts, none of which had looked
as promising.

Knick said the tip looked promis-
ing because the source was able to
describe areas in Lexington and knew
details about the accident.

“I don’t know what kind of mo-
tive [the infonnant] had,” said Beard,
“but inmates are always looking for
a bargain.”

Often, said Beard, inmates will
attempt to help are always looking
for a bargain.”

The tip that resulted in the arrest
of W&L senior Charles B. “Blake”
Comer was not received until 11 a.m.
Wednesday morning, after which the
case's “pieces went together like a
puzzle," said Beard.