Before Duane Thompson was sentenced Friday to a year in jail for striking a 5-year-old Centreville girl with his car and driving off, his father testified on his behalf. Calling his son an "extremely sensitive person," Sam Thompson said, "Duane has never been directly involved in somebody else's hurt in his life, until this time."
But all that changed, May 2, 2002, around 8:30 a.m., when Duane Thompson slammed his 1997 Chrysler Cirrus into kindergartner Ashley Dubey while she crossed Old Centreville Road to catch a bus for Bull Run Elementary.
"He was aware of it, and he disregarded his responsibility to stay behind," said Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jay Nanavati, Friday afternoon, in Fairfax County Circuit Court. "It should be a basic instinct in somebody [to rush over and help an injured person. But] he caused this problem and fled."
Ashley's mother, Seema Dubey of the Crofton Commons community, was holding her daughter's hand as they crossed the street. But when the child saw some school friends on the other side, she let go for a split second and darted across to join them. That's when Thompson, then 38, of 14530 Gateshead Lane in Manassas, drove up en route to his job at Best Buy in Fair Lakes.
Dubey, her 2-year-old son Himanshu and other parents and children waiting for the bus — watched, horrified, as the force of the impact sent the little girl airborne. "The next thing I knew, she was on the ground by her backpack," said her mother. "I was numb — I saw her laying there. I was screaming for help."
Meanwhile, witnesses obtained the car's license-tag number, and Thompson was arrested later that morning and charged with felony hit-and-run. Police found his car in the Best Buy parking lot with the engine warm and the hood dented in the middle.
As for Ashley, she sustained a severe head injury, affecting her speech, vision and movement on the right side. She underwent five brain surgeries at Inova Fairfax Hospital and then received therapy at a rehabilitation center in Charlottesville before coming home in late July. She still receives therapy and is now a special-ed student in first grade.
On Nov. 6 in Circuit Court, Thompson pleaded guilty to felony hit-and-run. He returned last week for sentencing, and defense attorney Robert Horan III had witnesses testify about his client's good character.
Dan Waldron of Reston called Thompson his closest friend and said the Manassas man helped him perform tasks that a physical disability prevented him from doing. And one of Thompson's co-workers, Steve Houser III, told how Thompson was "always ready to help me and the customers."
Neighbor Jean Malloy said Thompson occasionally babysat her children and was wonderful with them. She told how he "broke down and cried" when telling her about the accident, and she said he was "concerned about the little girl." And police Det. James Banachowski — who'd responded to the scene that day — acknowledged that, had Thompson not driven off, he wouldn't have been charged criminally.
Then Dubey took the stand and, not surprisingly, her opinion of Thompson was markedly different from that of his friends. "This person didn't stop," she said. "He almost killed a child." She then described the vigil family members kept at Ashley's bedside after the accident: "She was in a coma for 50 days, and we watched her — just praying for her life. She wasn't expected to survive."
Even now, eight months after the incident, Dubey said her full-time job is driving Ashley between the seven different doctors she must see for her vision, right leg, brain and various therapies. "As an adult, I get frustrated," she said. "I can't imagine what it's like for a 6-year-old."
But the accident affected Ashley's parents, too. "[Afterward], we didn't work for two months, and we almost lost our house because of her medical expenses," said Dubey. "At night, I wake up, and sometimes I forget she's not still in the hospital — and I wonder if she's still alive. We had a perfect 5-year-old, and now she's not normal, anymore. She's handicapped, the rest of her life, because of the stitches in her body and the shunt [to drain fluid and relieve pressure] in her brain."
Ashley's father, Hemant Dubey — who was working two jobs before the accident, to make ends meet — testified that Ashley's feet are now angled outward and she has to wear leg braces. "She cannot walk properly — even one step," he said. "And the permanent shunt is affecting her eyes."
"Have the doctors said she'll run or walk normally, someday?" asked the prosecutor, Nanavati. "The doctors say, 'Wait and see,'" replied her father.
Next addressing Judge Michael McWeeny, Nanavati called what happened "a tragedy, in terms of Ashley and her parents. [Thompson] did something that caused grave injuries to somebody. By his own account, there was a moment when Thompson got out and got on his cell phone." But instead of sticking around, said Nanavati, Thompson went "of all places, to work."
"This was body against vehicle — and when Mr. Thompson left the scene, he didn't know if she was dead or alive," continued Nanavati. "He said he figured somebody else would call the police. He wasn't drunk — he was in a hurry to get to work. His panic at getting caught overrode what sounds like his normal, humanitarian impulses to help. But this was the time when they were most needed."
Nanavati said the accident reduced Ashley's abilities to that of a 2-year-old, and she even needed to relearn toilet training. Calling it a textbook case of hit-and-run, he said there's just no getting around "the incredible damage this caused — and [Thompson] knowing he hit a person this hard."
Noting that the sentencing guidelines called for up to six months incarceration, he asked the judge to exceed them "in light of the tremendous injuries caused and because there's no mitigation involved. [Thompson] was just in a hurry to get to work."
But Horan said there's no evidence that his client was in a hurry: "This case was a tragic accident and [is about] his failure to stop at the scene and render aid. And his stopping would have done nothing to help this little girl and affect the injuries she suffered."
He said Thompson is a gentle person and a good Samaritan in other ways. Asking that he be sentenced to community service, instead of jail, Horan said, "What we have here is a momentary lapse of judgment on Thompson's part."
Then Thompson stood and, crying, apologized. "I'm so sorry — why I didn't stop, I don't know," he said. "I think about it all the time. Causing hurt to somebody else is not me. I know it was wrong; I feel so horrible for what I did."
But Judge McWeeny had the last say. "You apparently have a lot of good in you," he told Thompson. "But I'm going to return to something Mr. Horan said. He said your stopping didn't affect [Ashley's] injuries. [But] at the time that you put on your brakes and a little 5-year-old was lying there, you didn't know that. You moved on — and there's punishment for that."
Saying Thompson's sentence could serve as a lesson to him and to others, McWeeny sentenced him to five years in prison, suspending all but 12 months. He also placed Thompson on three years probation, following his release. Horan asked that his client be authorized for daytime work release, and McWeeny agreed, providing the sheriff does, too.
Afterward, a pleased Nanavati said, "I think it's appropriate that [the judge] doubled the high end of the guidelines." Horan had hoped Thompson's lack of a criminal record, plus his witnesses' testimony, would work in his favor.
"But the little girl had substantial, life-threatening injuries, and I think that figured into Judge McWeeny's sentence," said Horan. "Mr. Thompson is just a guy who made a mistake. He's somebody the court system will probably never see again."
Meanwhile, Ashley's life may be irrevocably changed. She can't be left in daycare, and she can't play with other children on a playground because she could fall and hurt herself. She has large scars on her chest and right leg, and her medical bills have soared to nearly $300,000 — with no end in sight.
Like McWeeny, Ashley's father hopes Thompson's sentence will be a lesson to others. But after all her family went through, said Ashley's mother, no sentence would be long enough for her. However, she's glad Thompson "finally said 'I'm sorry.'" As for her daughter, she said she calls her "my poor, broken Ashley — but at least she's here and she's alive."
A bank account has been set up for Ashley's medical expenses. Contributions, payable to Harsh Dubey, may be sent to: Bank of America, 14122 Lee Highway, Centreville, VA 20120.