By Wendy Moya
ALAMEDA, CA — An officer—who responded “I don’t recall” to key questions—testified Monday here in Alameda County Superior Court during the murder trial of Tyler Underwood, who was arrested for drunk driving and crashing his vehicle, killing a passenger, more than three years ago.
In October of 2018, Tyler Underwood was involved in a crash caused by allegedly driving while under the influence of alcohol. Underwood is reported to have been speeding, driving at speeds upwards of 100 miles per hour.
This horrific crash resulted in the death of one of the passengers in Underwood’s vehicle, who was flung from the vehicle upon impact, a number of outlets report.
Multiple sources describe that the victim’s body was not found until a day later after a relative called emergency responders regarding their missing relative. None of Underwood’s other passengers, or Underwood himself, ever reported the missing passenger.
The officer testifying described an interview with another witness.
When prompted about whether or not this witness had declared that Underwood had confessed to her that he had been driving impaired, the officer simply responded with “I don’t recall.” The officer had just finished rereading his police report.
Defense attorney Michael Wu then questioned whether or not that detail is something the officer would have written down in his report. That is, whether or not the officer would write down if Underwood had confessed to the witness whether or not he had been impaired when driving the night of the accident.
The officer confirmed that it is indeed something he would be compelled to record in his report.
Later on in the trial, the prosecutor showed the officer a statement by another witness, one of Underwood’s passengers. This other passenger confessed that she had had a number of drinks before the fatal accidents.
The prosecutor then asked the officer if any of the other officers who were at the scene of the accident had noted if Underwood appeared impaired the night of the accident.
The officer responded once again, “I don’t recall.”
The trial is ongoing.
