By Jeff Lehr

jlehr@joplinglobe.com

James A. Myers told investigators of a high-speed accident, one that claimed the lives of two children and an adult, that he was chasing the victims’ vehicle in an effort to try to get them to slow down.

The Jasper County prosecutor’s office believes that Myers, 22, of Carthage, was chasing the Ford Bronco that crashed the night of Aug. 10 on Civil War Road at Carthage for other reasons, and that he therefore is criminally responsible for the deaths of 19-year-old Earl Wayne McAfee, his 4-month-old son, Neil W. McAfee, and his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter, Jazmen Schlecter.

Associate Judge Richard Copeland found probable cause for Myers to stand trial on three counts of involuntary manslaughter after testimony at a preliminary hearing Wednesday in Jasper County Circuit Court in Joplin.

Myers did not testify at the hearing. But his attorney, public defender Nate Anderson, elicited acknowledgment from two investigators who the county prosecutor’s office called to testify against his client that Myers told them he was concerned that McAfee was driving fast and recklessly, and that he “followed or chased” McAfee’s vehicle in his Dodge Durango in an effort to get him to slow down.

The two vehicles never collided. But McAfee lost control of the Bronco in the 600 block of Francis Street, which turns into Civil War Road at the city limits, and the vehicle left the roadway, regained it, and left it again before rolling multiple times and coming to rest on its roof. All six occupants were hurled from the vehicle.

Sgt. Roger Renken of the Missouri State Highway Patrol told the court that the defendant actually provided several reasons to him in the aftermath of the accident as to why he chased the vehicle in and out of the Carthage city limits for 45 minutes or more the night in question.

“One of the reasons was: He knew the kids were in the vehicle, and the vehicle shouldn’t be going that fast with the kids in the vehicle,” Renken said.

Renken testified on direct examination by Assistant Prosecutor Jeremy Crowley that his inquiries determined that there was a confrontation at the EZ Mart convenience store at Oak and Baker streets, where the chase began. Before that, Renken said, there had been a dispute at a pickup basketball game over a cigarette that a friend of Myers’ and his brother, Justin Myers, had taken from Aaron Taylor, one of the occupants in McAfee’s vehicle who suffered injuries in the accident.

Renken and Detective Bill Hawkins of the Carthage Police Department testified that witnesses to the incident at the convenience store offered several versions of what took place there. Hawkins said a female cousin of the Myerses apparently had a verbal exchange with occupants of McAfee’s vehicle. The Myers vehicle arrived shortly thereafter, and another verbal exchange took place between occupants of the two vehicles, Hawkins said.

Hawkins told the court that Myers apparently threatened McAfee with a fight, which caused McAfee to pull out of the store lot, and a chase ensued.

Renken acknowledged on cross-examination by Anderson that Myers had told him that the mother of Tim Maggard, one of the occupants of McAfee’s vehicle, was concerned that he might be riding around in a vehicle operated by a drunk. Renken said Myers claimed that another reason he pursued McAfee was to try to get Maggard out of the car and to get the keys away from McAfee.

No testimony was offered at the hearing as to whether either of the drivers involved was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Myers is the father of two toddlers who were seriously injured in an accident Aug. 21, 2007, in Joplin. The children were riding with Myers and their mother, Whitney Dipley, and two other adult passengers in a car driven by Roy Lee Williams Jr., 23, of Joplin. The car vaulted over the railroad tracks on 15th Street at Indiana Avenue, snapping off a utility pole and crashing into a parked vehicle in the lot of the Dollar General store at 816 E. 15th St.