Parties disagreed about whether a defendant’s apparently reckless choices or his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) led to a fatal crash in a trial before DC Superior Court Judge Rainey Brandt on April 28.
Spiro Stafilatos, 38, is charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault knowingly grave risk while armed, and fleeing a law enforcement officer for his alleged involvement in a pedestrian crash at the intersection of New York Avenue and 14th Street, NW on Dec. 30, 2022 that resulted in the death of 31-year-old Shuyu Sui also known as Sophie and life threatening injuries to a second victim, Sui’s wife.
“It should have been an ordinary afternoon” for Sui and her wife, said prosecutors in their opening statements. The couple walked down 14th Street where “their lives would be changed forever.”
According to prosecutors, the United States Secret Service (USSS) stopped Stafilatos because he had no front license plate and an out of date registration. At the traffic stop, Stafilatos kept his vehicle running and in drive. In a “critical 15 seconds,” prosecutors said Stafilatos fled the traffic stop, turned into a gap in traffic, collided with another vehicle, and “launched [the victims] down New York Avenue.”
The prosecutor inquired what jurors would do if they were involved in a crash and argued it would differ from Stafilatos’ response. Stafilatos looked at the “shattered bodies of the two women who were clinging to life in the streets” and turned his back on them, said the prosecutor.
Prosecutors said telematics evidence shows that Stafilatos accelerated over 50 miles per hour—twice the speed limit— and video footage offers proof he ran a red light.
The jury will not see evidence of Stafilatos’ intent to kill, but prosecutors said that doesn’t matter for second-degree murder. The case is about a series of Stafilatos’ choices that led to Sui’s death, concluded prosecutors.
Brian McDaniel, Stafilatos’ attorney, emphasized the presumption of innocence and argued that prosecutors “overcharged Stafilatos.” According to McDaniel, it is relevant that his client didn’t intend to cause harm.
When Stafilatos was detained in April 2020, McDaniel said he was “assaulted by law enforcement, beaten by police.” As a result, Stafilatos has PTSD from his interactions with authorities. McDaniel asserted that Stafilatos’ PTSD informed his decisions as he tried to escape the police when the crash occurred.
The video of the crash is “hard to watch, it’s bad,” said McDaniel, and emphasized it’s “a sad case all around” but asked the jury to consider “the good, the bad, the ugly,” and find Stafilatos not guilty of the charges against him.
The prosecutors called the surviving victim to testify. “My memory is super bad,” said the victim and noted she carries a notebook to help her recall. The victim does not remember the crash but from photos, she knows she celebrated her wedding anniversary with Sui that day.
“Whenever I think of her I start crying,” said the surviving victim about her wife. She described Sui as nice to everyone and mentioned a cat they adopted together.
A doctor and expert in the field of trauma surgery who treated the surviving victim also testified. The expert said the victim’s probability of death was extremely high and without care, she would have died within an hour of the crash. The expert said the victim sustained a very severe brain injury with bleeding, a broken skull, punctured lungs, and fractured hands, among other injuries.
According to the expert, the victim spent approximately six months in the intensive care unit (ICU) and approximately 12 months at George Washington University Hospital.
The prosecution also called the lead Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) detective on the case from the Major Crash Investigations Unit to testify. The detective said he responded to an incident involving two pedestrians in an area with a speed limit of 20 miles per hour. According to the detective, the distance from where the vehicle impacted the victims to their final resting place was between 80-to-100 feet.
The detective identified the suspect vehicle’s path in video footage played by prosecutors. In the videos, officers on bikes conducted a traffic stop, the vehicle pulled away, and a police vehicle turned on their lights and followed the vehicle. Then, the video showed that the suspect vehicle drove through a red light and was hit by another vehicle that had a green light.
The suspect vehicle then hit two pedestrians as they walked across the street. The driver exited the car and started to run away before police arrived and the suspect raised his hands in the air as he dropped to the ground.
In cross-examination, McDaniel noted that police found three prescription bottles in the suspect vehicle and one nearby, all labeled with Stafilatos’ name. The detective said he was unsure what the prescription was. McDaniel confirmed that the detective took notes on elements of importance in his investigations. Therefore, McDaniel concluded if the detective did not write the prescription down it was not important.
McDaniel asked the detective whether Stafilatos would have struck the victims if the other car had not hit the back of his vehicle. The prosecution objected to the question and after a brief conversation, Judge Brandt struck the question from the record.
The accident was not a high speed chase but it occurred about a block away from the traffic stop, McDaniel confirmed with the detective.
An eyewitness who drove the other vehicle involved in the crash also testified. The eyewitness described the accident–she was in stop-and-go traffic and as she hit her breaks another vehicle hit hers. Her car was toatled and she was “shaken but physically okay,” said the eyewitness.
McDaniel asserted that the eyewitness hit the other car, not the opposite. She affirmed her previous statement that a vehicle from her right hit her front passenger side. The eyewitness said she had a green light and confirmed she never watched a video of the crash.
The trial is scheduled to resume on April 29.
