Suspect jeered in court
Transient Webb pleads innocent
By Howard Breuer
Staff Writer
MANSLAUGHTER SUSPECT Wallace Webb disrupts Tuesday's arraignment at Santa Anita Superior Court by shouting comments to spectators in the courtroom. (Staff Photo by WALT MANCINI)
MONROVIA -- More than 50 friends and relatives of two Jehovah's Witnesses killed in a car crash cried and jeered Tuesday as a driver charged with vehicular manslaughter made his first court appearance.
The driver, Wallace Howard Webb, a 29-year-old transient from Lexington, Ky., allegedly told police he sped 60 mph through a stop sign early Saturday morning because he was frustrated about getting lost on his way to Los Angeles.
Family members of the victims screamed and cried as the smirking, wild-eyed defendant entered the courtroom and babbled, "I'm innocent," and "I'm gonna get y'all."
He also yanked up his shirt to reveal faded scars on his chest and proclaimed, "They beat me like Rodney King."
Audience members shouted back, "You deserved it," and "I'm next."
Santa Anita Superior Court Commissioner Tia Fisher repeatedly urged Webb to keep quiet.
She took Webb's innocent plea through a public defender and set a preliminary hearing for Aug. 15.
Webb is charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter and one charge of reckless driving causing injury and faces up to 13 years behind bars.
He is being held on $100,000 bail in the medical ward of the Men's Central Jail.
Webb claimed he neglected to take medications for a mental disorder before the accident, according to officials. However, it's not clear what those disorders might be.
Kevin Bruggeman, 28, and Melissa Dicke, 26, both of Arcadia, were instantly killed when Webb's Cadillac broadsided Bruggeman's Toyota Camry at Chestnut and Ivy avenues.
A third passenger, Eva Davis, 35, of Monrovia remained in stable condition at Whittier Hospital Medical Center, where she underwent surgery Monday evening for a fractured femur.
Their families and friends were dismayed at Webb's apparent lack of remorse.
"He's mentally not there, obviously," said Stephanie Cha, a cousin of Dicke. "I don't know if he realizes what he did, the lives that he shattered."
"I can see, the way he is, he's going to hurt other people," said Manuel Leal of Pasadena, Dicke's uncle.
However, their religion compels them to forgive wrongdoers and love their enemies.
"I'm sure Kevin and Melissa will forgive him," said May Long, a Jehovah's Witness from Monrovia. "He was very mentally ill."
Described as close friends, Bruggeman and Dicke spent much of their time ministering to friends and strangers.
Bruggeman worked at RJA Management Services Inc., a human resource management consulting firm in Arcadia.
Dicke worked in various positions at the Arboretum of Los Angeles County and majored in horticulture at Mt. San Antonio College.
A double funeral service is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Masonic Temple, 9 W. Woodward Ave., Alhambra.
-- Howard Breuer can be reached at (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4444, or by e-mail at [email protected].
Yakki Da
Kent
"The only difference between a fool and the JW legal department is that a fool might be sympathetic ."
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