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Details of fatal Jamestown accident come out at hearing

P-J photo by John Whittaker Pictured is the semi involved in the Dec. 31 fatal accident in Jamestown.

Just moments before a car hauler is believed to have struck a 15-year-old girl in Jamestown on New Year’s Eve, a passenger in the semi let out a scream.

“I said, ‘There’s a person.’ I was screaming, ‘There’s a person — stop, stop, stop,’ “ Nicole Voty said during a January preliminary hearing in Jamestown City Court days after charges were filed against the semi’s driver, Randall J. Rolison.

Asked by Jason Schmidt, Chautauqua County district attorney, if she recalled her specific words at that moment, Voty replied, “Yeah, ‘There’s a person, there’s a person.’ I was pretty manic. I was freaking out, but those were the words I said, yes.”

Details regarding the Dec. 31 accident that claimed the life of Alexis “Lexy” Hughan emerged at the Jan. 5 preliminary hearing. Transcripts were sought by The Post-Journal shortly afterward and obtained this week.

Rolison, 58, is facing charges of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident involving a death and driving while ability impaired by drugs. He is being represented by Ned Barone, county public defender, who with Schmidt, questioned Voty and other witnesses during the preliminary hearing in front of City Court Judge John LaMancuso.

Voty was in the semi with Rolison the day of the accident. She testified that they were at a red light on North Main Street in Jamestown waiting to make a right-hand turn on to Sixth Street. They were on their way to the Chautauqua Mall where Voty planned to have lunch with her children before transporting the vehicles on the hauler to Florida.

Asked by Schmidt what happened when the traffic light turned green on North Main Street, Voty said she believed the semi briefly stalled. “It started like, it stalled out,” she said. “He was turning and it was doing the bump thing. And that’s when I saw the girl, like, in the crosswalk.”

Hughan’s body came to rest on West Sixth Street, just west of the Washington Street intersection.

Voty said Rolison did not mention seeing anyone and continued driving west toward the mall in Lakewood. “I didn’t feel anything or see anything,” Voty said when questioned whether she felt anything inside the truck after spotting the pedestrian. “So I thought it was fine — I didn’t think we hit anybody. I had no idea.”

Rolison eventually parked the semi outside the mall.

Voty, questioned by Schmidt on what Rolison said after the accident, said he “never saw her. He didn’t see her.”

Asked if he noted seeing the pedestrian before making the turn, Voty responded, “On the sidewalk, yeah. He saw her on the sidewalk before we stopped.”

She added, “He just said that he saw her on the sidewalk because I said I saw her and then he said he saw her on the sidewalk and I never saw her on the sidewalk. I just saw her in the crosswalk.”

Barone reaffirmed with Voty that she did not feel anything as the car hauler made the turn onto Sixth Street. He also questioned whether she heard any car horns or people screaming at them. “And as you were driving down Sixth Street, did you hear anyone — any car horns beeping at you?” Barone asked.

She replied, “No.”

“Anyone screaming at you?” the public defender followed up.

“No,” she said.

“And at any point between Sixth Street and the Chautauqua Mall did Mr. Rolison ever indicate to you that he knew he hit someone?” he asked.

Voty again said no.

Earlier during the preliminary hearing, officer Alexis Carlson with the Jamestown Police Department spoke. Carlson was the first officer to respond to the Dec. 31 accident. She said it was apparent when she arrived on scene that the pedestrian had died due to their injuries.

CASE REMAINS ACTIVE

An investigation into the fatal crash remains ongoing. “We are working this case very closely with the Chautauqua County District Attorney’s Office,” Capt. Robert Samuelson of the Jamestown Police Department said this week.

The police department has stated previously that additional charges could be announced pending toxicology results.

Carlson testified that she performed an “alert test” on Rolison in the mall parking lot to determine whether there was a presence of alcohol. There was no alcohol detected during the alert test, she said.

Schmidt said January’s preliminary hearing was to ensure Rolison was held for grand jury action.

Chautauqua County Court Judge David Foley, at a hearing Jan. 19, set bail for Rolison at $35,000 cash, $70,000 bond for the charges tied to the fatal crash and $50,000 cash, $100,000 bond for weapons possession charges.

Shortly after the accident, Rolison was indicted on three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. The new charges, unrelated to the accident, were the result of unregistered handguns found in a storage unit that Rolison rents.

“We have since been actively engaged in the next stage of the process, working the investigation and developing and evaluating the evidence, so that we make appropriate charging decisions going forward,” Schmidt told The Post-Journal. “We are doing everything within our power to protect and preserve our right as a community to ensure that justice is served here.”

Records indicate Rolison posted bond Feb. 4 and was later released from Chautauqua County Jail.

KEEPING ABREAST

Sara Rafaloski, Hughan’s mother, said in a phone interview this week the family has been kept updated on the investigation and appreciates the work being put in by police and the DA’s office.

Rafaloski also acknowledged the support the family has received over the last month and a half. A GoFundMe fundraiser collected just over $40,000, and Infinity Visual and Performing Arts partnered with members of the community to raffle off items.

“It’s been overwhelming with the support of the community,” Rafaloski said.

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