The Idlings and Backups of James Fields' Car

In his testimony at the preliminary hearing of James Fields on December 14, 2017, case agent Detective Steven Young mentioned that, while on Fourth Street and before driving into the crowd, Fields stopped and idled his car at least once and drove backward at least once.

Young stated that Fields did so because Young wanted to inform the court that Fields drove into the crowd deliberately. The idling and backing up gave Fields time to think about his decision to drive forward into the crowd. From Young's perspective, specifying exactly where and when Fields did the idling was rather irrelevant to the issues of that legal proceeding.

Indeed, when Fields' lawyer, Denise Lunsford, cross-examined Young (pages 32 - 44), she did not ask him to elaborate about the idling or backing up.

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However, people who suspect that Fields might have been guided by someone else would like to know more details about the idling and backing up -- where, when, how long, how many times?

Were the idling and backing up related to the presence on Fourth Street of someone who was guiding Fields?

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During the preliminary hearing, someone in the courtyard caused a disturbance when Young was testifying about a place where Fields stopped his car and began to back up. While Young is being questioned by the prosecutor Nina-Alicia Antony before Judge Robert H. Downer, Jr.

Young is showing the court the video from the surveillance camera of the Red Pump Kitchen (RPK) restaurant. The video has just shown a white Camry drive past the RPK, followed closely by Fields' car.

Detective Young
And as you can see, he [Fields] proceeds south on Fourth Street onto the crossover and many witnesses said he then made his way to the 100 block of Fourth  Street SE, which is where he stopped.

Prosecutor Antony
About how long is Mr. Fields Challenger out of view?

Detective Young
Approximately, a minute and ten seconds.

Prosecutor Antony
And during this time, had the vehicle struck the crowd yet?

Detective Young
No. At this point, you’ve got many witnesses testify that the Challenger began to back up, assuming that it would head back onto Market Street and leave the area.

Judge Downer
Quiet in the courtroom.

Bailiff
Quiet in the courtroom.

Judge Downer
All right, he needs to go out. All of them.

Detective Young
Your Honor, as you saw, that was the silver Dodge Challenger that drove south at a high rate of speed.

Judge Downer
All right, once again, anybody else who makes a sound like that, out you go. All right.

(Page 31, line 24, through Page 32, line 18)

I suspect that someone in the courtroom audience said something aloud Brennan Gilmore, a suspected character in this incident, who had been standing in the area, described here by Young, where Fields stopped and began to back up.

[Correction on March 1, 2018 -- The courtroom disturbances were not about Gilmore.]

Gilmore made the following video.

During the four months between the incident and the preliminary hearing, a controversy developed about whether Gilmore might have been an accessory to Fields.

Gilmore has said that he was standing in the middle of Fourth Street before this video began. Perhaps Fields stopped there because Gilmore was standing in his way and then drove forward as soon as Gilmore got out of his way.

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During that disturbance in the court, the RPK video continued to run. Nobody in the court was paying to the video, however, because of the disturbance. After the trouble-makers were removed from the courtroom, Young and the court resumed watching the RPK video. A minute had passed since the disruption began, and so just now the video was showing Fields' car -- after being unseen for 1:10 minutes -- pass by the RPK camera northwards and backwards.

Judge Downer
Quiet in the courtroom.

Bailiff
Quiet in the courtroom.

Judge Downer
All right, he needs to go out. All of them.

[The court resumes watching the RPK video.]

Detective Young
Your Honor, as you saw, that was the silver Dodge Challenger that drove at a high rate of speed.

Detective Young (elaborated)
Your Honor, as you saw, that [the car now driving northwards and backwards in the RPK video] was the silver Dodge Challenger that [during the preceding 1:10 interval] drove at a high rate of speed [into the crowd].

Judge Downer
All right, once again, anybody else who makes a sound like that, out you go. All right.

(Page 32, lines 11 - 18)

In the above passage, I have edited Young's statement to clarify his intended sense.

Again someone in the courtroom audience spoke aloud. During this new disruption, the RPK video continued to run. After the disruption ended, prosecutor Antony showed the RPK's video last part, during which no vehicles were seen. The RPK camera's clock ran 13 minutes fast, so in the below passage I show the correction to real time.

Judge Downer
All right, once again, anybody else who makes a sound like that, out you go. All right.

Prosecutor Antony
I’m pausing and starting again at 1:54:49 [corrected, real time = 1:41:49].

Detective Young, you said it [Fields' car] left view at a high rate of speed?

Detective Young
Yes. At this point, many people began to run after Mr. Fields and, at that point, encounter police as they [people on Main Street] ran east towards the police department.

(Page 32, lines 17 - 24)

The RPK video did not show any cars after 1:54:49. The absence of additional cars was demonstrated to the court by running the video to its end.

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The RPK video showed Fields' car pass by twice (pages 28-31) :

1) driving south when the camera's clock showed 13:52:56 [13:39:56]

[not seen for 1:10 minutes]

2) backing up north when the camera's clock showed 13:54:06 [13:41:06]

A few seconds after the court saw the second passing on the video, the courtroom was disrupted again. After that disruption ended, the video was restarted at 13:54:49 [13:41:49] so that the courtroom could watch the last part, during which no vehicles were seen.

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If you re-watch the above video made by Gilmore, you will see in the period 0:35-0:38 a black SUV parked along the left side of Fourth Street. That vehicle is a suspected element in this incident, and so Fields' idling or backing up in its vicinity might be relevant.

Watch the following video, made by SonofNewo, from 20:30 to 24:30.

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There are no videos (known to the public) that show Fields' car idling or backing up. No such video was shown during the pretrial hearing. Unless Young has seen some such video, his findings that the car idled or backed up are based entirely on eyewitness statements.

Any idlings or backups (other than getaway backup after the drive into the crowd) happened entirely within the areas north or south of the RPK camera's view, which I think covered the area illustrated below.

No backups before Fields drove into the crowd
were seen by the RPK surveillance camera,
which filmed the area marked by the red lines

It's clear from Young's testimony that eyewitnesses said that Fields began to back up at least once in an area south of the Main Street crossover. It's not clear whether eyewitnesses said that Fields also idled there.

It is not clear from Young's testimony whether eyewitnesses said that Fields idled or backed up in the area north of the RPK camera.

Fields did not idle or back up his car within the RPK camera's view before he drove into the crowd.