MAYVILLE — About a half-hour before her 2009 Subaru Forester struck another vehicle on Interstate 86 in the town of North Harmony, Heather Capell called 911.

The Georgia woman was lost and needed general directions back home.

On the receiving end of that call the morning of July 1, 2021, was 911 dispatcher Donald Meder. For about 20 minutes Tuesday, Meder testified in Chautauqua County Court regarding his brief conversation with Capell, a recording of which was played to jurors.

Capell is charged with driving the wrong direction on the interstate and causing a crash that killed Bradley Wakefield, 52, of Cattaraugus County. She is on trial facing charges of second-degree manslaughter, second-degree vehicular manslaughter and driving while ability impaired by a combination of drugs/alcohol.

Entering its second week, the trial picked up with Meder and the playing of Capell’s call to 911. The Georgia woman had left a Buffalo club that morning and was attempting to drive back home when she apparently became lost.

“I know it’s not your job,” Capell told the dispatcher, before stating she was trying to “get back down to Georgia.”

She had taken Route 20 from Buffalo and was now in the area of Route 76 and Kent Road in the town of Ripley when she sought directions.

In his testimony Tuesday, Meder said he advised the caller to continue heading south and to get onto Interstate 86 heading west in Sherman. The entirety of their conversation was played in court.

Instead of getting on the westbound on-ramp, Capell reportedly entered I-86 via the off-ramp and began driving east in the westbound lane. Prosectors say Capell drove about 9 miles before striking Wakefield’s vehicle around 5 a.m.

Capell’s attorney, Chautauqua County Public Defender Ned Barone, asked Meder if anything from the 911 call that morning gave him concern or if he notified police afterward. Meder said he did not.

Sgt. Christopher Howlett of the Sheriff’s Office was next to testify Tuesday. As a member of the county’s Accident Reconstruction Team, Howlett described generally what goes into reconstructing what happened leading up to a collision based on vehicle damage and markings on the road, among other factors.

At the point of impact in the July 1, 2021 crash, he said Capell’s vehicle was traveling at 43 mph while Wakefield was traveling at 54 mph. Based on his findings, Howlett said Wakefield’s vehicle — traveling in the passing lane — made an abrupt turn right into the driving lane just before the crash.

Due to the force of the collision, Wakefield’s vehicle ended up on the shoulder of the road while Capell’s vehicle ended up facing west.

Despite objections from the defense, Howlett also testified about the entrance to the interstate in Sherman. He noted the large green reflective signs that direct motorists to Erie, Pa., or Jamestown, as well as the “Do Not Enter” and “One Way” signs placed on the off-ramp from the westbound lane.

Last to testify was Cody Willett, a senior PC specialist with the county assigned to assist the Sheriff’s Office. Willett was tasked with downloading information from Capell’s cellphone, and on Tuesday he went through a series of calls made and received from the phone between 4:35 a.m. and 5:04 a.m. the morning of the crash.

Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said Capell used her phone several times between her call to 911 for directions and the collision on I-86.

County Court Judge David Foley allowed use of a portion of the phone’s call log; Willett frequently had to look over the time and length of each call to answer questions from prosectors.

The DA earlier noted that all of the information collected from the phone, including photographs, text messages and call data, resulted in a report thousands of pages long.

Though Schmidt wanted to bring up Capell’s frequent use of the phone while driving up from Georgia to New York, Foley said phone use information needed to stick to the moments prior to the crash.

An attorney with Barone’s office asked Willett whether it was possible to tell from the call log whether Capell was driving or parked when the series of calls were made and received between 4:35 a.m. and 5:04 a.m. or whether she was in her vehicle at all. The attorney also asked whether Willett knew if Capell had hands free calling capabilities in her vehicle.

Willett responded that the data he obtained from her phone does not include that kind of information.

The trial is scheduled to resume this afternoon in County Court. Prosecutors have one final witness to call to the stand.