Suicidal driver penalized millions in Horry County

An Horry County jury has awarded the family of a 3-year-old girl killed in a 2005 vehicle crash more than $10million in punitive damages following a two-day wrongful death civil trial.

The family of Erica Bellamy filed the suit in February 2008 against Christopher Jones, who pleaded guilty in February 2006 to voluntary manslaughter in the 3-year-old's death, according to court records.

Jones is serving a 21-year prison sentence in Erica's death.

Officials determined he intentionally rammed his sport utility vehicle into Bellamy's family minivan on March 7, 2005, as the family drove along S.C. 544, according to records. The 22-year-old also pleaded guilty to assault and battery with intent to kill and was sentenced to 20 years in prison on that charge.

Jones was 17 when he and his then-15-year-old girlfriend made a suicide pact and he aimed his vehicle for the Bellamys' car to carry it out, prosecutors said. Information gleaned from an electronic box built into Jones' Chevrolet Tahoe helped prove that he intentionally caused the fatal crash, 15th Circuit Solicitor Greg Hembree said during his plea hearing in 2006.

It was the first time in Horry County that such information was used in a case for prosecution, prosecutors said during Jones' plea hearing.

Jones, who is paraplegic, cannot use his legs, so his car was modified with a lever to let him accelerate by hand, prosecutors said.

Jones was paralyzed from the waist down after a wreck he had in 2004, while driving alone.

Erica was riding in a car seat in the back seat of the family vehicle along with her mother, who was driving, her father and her brother, according to police. They also suffered injuries in the crash.

Attorneys Tommy Brittain and Mary Madison Langway represented Bellamy's mother and father in the civil suit, which was tried this week in Conway. The trial lasted two days before the jury awarded the family $750,000 in actual damages and $10.2 million in punitive damages.

"This is pretty big for a personal injury case," Brittain said Thursday. "These were as bad of facts that you could ever get. This child was a sweet, innocent 3-year-old. The family felt warmth in the fact that a jury really sympathized with them. As tough as it was, it will help them feel better that that little girl's life meant something."

Brittain said the family felt some closure at the end of the case.

Mike Smith, who represented Jones and his family in the case, could not be reached Thursday for comment. During the trial, Brittain said police investigators testified the black box in Jones' vehicle showed he had maxed out the speed of the truck and was trying to accelerate when the crash occurred.

The brakes were never applied, he said.