WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Polo billionaire John Goodman took the witness stand Wednesday in his DUI manslaughter trail.
Goodman is charged in connection with a February 2010 crash during which prosecutors said his Bentley collided with a Hyundai, sending the Hyundai into a nearby canal. That car's driver, Scott Wilson, drowned, according to autopsy reports.
Before Goodman testified Wednesday, a mechanical engineer said that throttles in Goodman's Bentley were not functioning properly before the crash.
While Goodman was on the stand Wednesday, he was asked whether he was "drunk, impaired or intoxicated" when he got into his car that night.
"Absolutely not," Goodman said.
Goodman admitted he had four drinks throughout the evening, but he was adamant that he was not drunk when he left the Polo Club in the early-morning hours that day. Then, he described the moments before the crash and the hour after.
"I was traveling down Lake Worth Road, and I began to apply my brakes, and the car did not seem to be stopping as easily as I was used to, and so I continued to apply the brakes," Goodman said. "I slowed before the stop sign, well before the stop sign, and I took my foot off the brake, and that's the last thing I remember."
Goodman said that when he came to, he did not know where he was and did not see any other cars around. He said he walked toward a light in the distance and came to a barn with an office upstairs. Then, he said, he went inside to look for a phone, but did not find one.
What Goodman said next is the crux of his defense and aims to explain why a blood test he took three hours after the crash showed he was legally drunk.
"I saw liquor on the counter, and I went over and proceeded to grab a bottle of the liquor, and I drank it, thinking it would help with my pain," Goodman said.
Defense attorneys said that Goodman may have been drunk three hours later, but it was because of alcohol he drank after the collision, not before.
Prosecutors maintain Goodman ran from the scene of the crash and left Wilson to drown. They allege his actions after the crash were not the result of a concussion and an inability to find help, but rather a desperate plan to cover the fact that he was driving drunk.
The defense has rested its case. On Wednesday, the state will put a few rebuttal witnesses on the stand.