The sad saga of Amy Locane-Bovenizer continued this week, with a New Jersey police officer testifying at a Miranda hearing that the former Melrose Place actress was smiling, giggling and incoherent following a New Jersey car accident that injured another driver and killed his wife. Locane-Bovenizer, who is accused of being intoxicated at the time, is charged with aggravated manslaughter. The hearing was to determine if statements she made after her arrest last June can be used at trial.
As we reported last year, it is alleged that just prior to the June 27, 2010 accident, Locane-Bovenizer, of Hopewell, New Jersey, was being pursued by the driver of a vehicle she had rear-ended at the intersection of Cherry Valley Road and Route 206 in Princeton Township. Locane-Bovenizer’s 2007 Chevy Tahoe hit Fred and Helene Seeman’s vehicle as they were pulling into their driveway on Cherry Hill Road in Montgomery Township.
Helene Seeman, age 60, was pronounced dead at the scene while her husband was airlifted to Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center in New Brunswick after sustaining 10 broken ribs.
According to NJ.com, Locane-Bovenizer was found in a roadside ditch. At the Miranda hearing, New Jersey Police Officer William Wilkes testified that she seemed unaware that she had been involved in a car accident.
“She was happy, giggling, laughing,†Wilkes testified.
Wilkes also testified that Locane-Bovenizer, who sustained no serious injuries, appeared to flirt with him while in her hospital room, and described her behavior in the hours after the accident as ranging from bewilderment to belligerence to playfulness, NJ.com said. Finally, Wilkes testified that Locane-Bovenizer admitted to drinking four glasses of wine and a beer earlier that evening, and asked if she would be charged with drunk driving.
On the third day of the hearing, Detective Michael Schutta with the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office, along with Montgomery police Detective Brian Hofacker, testified about the statement they took the night of the accident from Locane-Bovenizer. According to MyCentralJersey.com, both said she did not know that she was a suspect in the fatal accident until after the interview, when she was served with a notice of the vehicular homicide charge.
An 18-minute recording of their interview was also played in the courtroom, and on it Locane-Bovenizer can be heard saying “Did someone back into me or did I back into them?†Soon after, she adds, “To be honest I don’t remember.â€
Locane-Bovenizer’s defense attorney questioned if she was capable of answering the questions and waiving her rights at the time. Among other things, her attorney also asked witnesses whether the nature of the crash or alcohol and a hospital sedative would affect Locane-Bovenizer’s condition, MyCentralJersey.com
Locane-Bovenizer, 39, starred in the original “Melrose Place†for one season in 1992. She also appeared in Cry-Baby, School Ties, and Secretary.
Fred Seeman is being represented in his civil suit against Locane-Bovenizer by the national law firm of Parker Waichman Alonso LLP.
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