Teens in Frank Lumpkin III case get 5 years
Lumpkin testifies teen was accidentally shot

Lumpkin testified that he accidentally shot the 16-year-old he found Oct. 21 in the driver's seat of a 2006 Lincoln Navigator. The SUV was stolen two days earlier from a Macon Road gas station where his wife had stopped to get coffee.

Lumpkin's testimony

Lumpkin said he had a handgun that night and was accompanied by three friends who also were armed when they saw the Navigator pull into a Super C service station at 1538 Fort Benning Road. Driving a Nissan Titan truck, Lumpkin pulled in behind the Navigator to block it at the gas pumps.

With a gun in his hand, Lumpkin got out of the truck and approached his stolen vehicle, he told the court.

He said he reached through the Navigator's open window and grabbed the driver by the neck with his right hand as he held the handgun in his left. "I actually told him, 'Get out of my car,' " Lumpkin told the court. The driver then started the engine, Lumpkin said, so he told the youth, "You're not taking my car again."

The boy threw the Navigator into reverse, squealing tires and burning rubber as he slammed the SUV back into the front of Lumpkin's truck, Lumpkin said. Squeezed between the Navigator and the gas pumps and caught by the side mirror, he hooked his elbows inside the window as he was dragged backward, he said.

That's when his gun went off, said Lumpkin, who claimed the shooting was an accident. He said also that as he looked down, he saw what appeared to be a revolver in the driver's lap.

After the Navigator rammed the Titan, the driver put the SUV in drive and took off again, this time crashing into a pole and riding up on it before the Navigator stopped, Lumpkin said. He said he was thrown to the ground, and the driver got out and ran.

He chased the boy out of the lot and toward the rear of a vacant building, where the youth stopped and pointed what appeared to be a gun at him, Lumpkin said. Lumpkin then ordered the boy to stop, and fired into the air, he said.

Columbus police officers called to testify Friday said that investigators found a .22-caliber revolver on the ground about 50 yards from where the wounded boy tried to hide by a creek off Fort Benning Road. They could not link the gun directly to the driver, but Cpl. William Talley, who handcuffed the boy, testified that when he asked whether the youth had any weapons, the boy told him, "That gun is not mine."

Talley testified that the youth appeared to have two bullet holes, one in his lower left abdomen and another in his lower back. The boy's attorney, Derrell Dowdell, tried to argue that the youth was shot twice, but investigators say one hole was where the bullet entered and the other was where it exited. A bullet was later recovered from the frame beneath the driver's seat of the Navigator, officers said.

The hearing Friday was to determine the disposition of four juveniles connected with the case, including a 15-year-old accused of stealing the vehicle on Oct. 19. That teen was not in the vehicle when Lumpkin found it on Oct. 21.

The three boys who were in the car that night faced charges of theft by receiving stolen property. Among them was a 15-year-old, the cousin of the SUV's driver. According to a statement that youth gave police Cpl. Katina Williams, he was seated directly behind the 16-year-old driver. A second 16-year-old was seated in the front passenger's seat. A fourth person whom investigators have not identified had left the other rear passenger's seat to go into the store.

According to Williams, the 15-year-old passenger told her he knew the car was stolen, and that it had been hidden behind a vacant house on Winston Road. On Oct. 21, the boys all rode bikes there to get the vehicle, she said he told her.

Summoned to the stand by Dowdell, the 16-year-old driver accused his cousin of lying. He said he wasn't driving the car until Lumpkin came toward it with a gun, at which point he moved from a back seat to the front and tried to get away. He also said he didn't know anything about the vehicle's true ownership, except that he first saw it being driven by someone he didn't know well, and that person told him it came from a crack addict. He could not name the person.

Under cross-examination by Assistant District Attorney Wesley Lambertus, the boy began to answer questions with only "I don't know."

At times during the four hours of testimony it appeared Dowdell was putting Lumpkin on trial. At one point, after Dowdell argued that his client was shot twice, police Cpl. Williams told him, "I didn't realize I was coming to a trial today, Mr. Dowdell." She then turned to Judge Wayne Jernigan and asked, "We are here on a theft by receiving stolen property charge only, right?"

Lumpkin faces an aggravated assault charge for shooting the Navigator's driver. He has been released from jail on $2,500 bond.

After Lambertus told the judge that both the boy who was driving the Navigator and the one who admitted to stealing it had records for previous auto thefts, Jernigan gave each the maximum penalty -- five years in a youth development center.

He released the 16-year-old who was sitting in the front passenger's seat the night of the shooting, finding insufficient evidence that the boy knew the vehicle was stolen or ever had control of it. The 15-year-old who was a passenger that night, the driver's cousin, was left in custody, but Jernigan postponed a decision on his status and asked the prosecutor and the defense attorney, Shevon Thomas, to file briefs arguing what the boy's disposition should be.

There was no testimony Friday from the 15-year-old who stole the Navigator. He sat silently in court until the hearing ended, at which time Jernigan called him forward. Lambertus told the judge the boy had admitted stealing the Navigator, but refused to cooperate further with authorities. Lambertus said the youth had just served 60 days for a car theft earlier this year, and stole Lumpkin's vehicle as soon as he was released.

THE CASE

Frank Lumpkin III : After his SUV was stolen Oct. 19 and his truck later burglarized, Lumpkin with three armed friends found the SUV Oct. 21 at a gas station. Charged with aggravated assault for shooting the driver, he's free on $2,500 bond.

16-year-old driver : The youth Lumpkin shot while trying to recover his vehicle Oct. 21 is to spend five years in state custody.

His 15-year-old cousin : A judge has postponed deciding on this youth's status. The boy was sitting behind the driver.

16-year-old in front passenger seat : A judge released this youth, finding insufficient evidence to detain him.

A fourth passenger : A fourth youth who reportedly left the SUV right before the shooting has not been identified. He has not been identified.

15-year-old : This youth was not in the SUV on Oct. 21, but has admitted stealing it Oct. 19. He got is to spend five years in state custody.

Archie Washington : Columbus man, 51, charged Nov. 1 with stealing a gun from Lumpkin's truck, and with 61 other auto break-ins. He's in the Muscogee County jail.