Indy Man Faces Race Mechanic Murder
Jun 04, 2008
Ron McQueeney/IMS
David (Davey) Evans, 63, a crewman with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, died May 4 outside the Kazablanka Bar, which is attached to the hotel where team members were staying for the Indianapolis 500.
James P. Brackin of Indianapolis was charged and was being held without bond on one count of murder, said Matthew Symons, a spokesman for Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi. A pretrial conference was scheduled in Marion Superior Court for July.
Witnesses said after Brackin and Evans argued inside the bar about a woman, Brackin followed Evans outside, jumped on a table and kicked him in the head, according to a probable cause affidavit. When police arrived, they found Evans unconscious on the deck outside the bar, and he was pronounced dead at Wishard Hospital about 40 minutes later.
The next day, Brackin denied going out to the deck but later began crying and told Detective Tom Lehn, “If I did something to him I didn’t mean to do it,” the affidavit said.
“What this sounds like is involuntary manslaughter, where the victim died during the commission of a battery,” said Henry Karlson, a professor of criminal law at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis.
Karlson said the stroke wasn’t necessarily caused by the kick. The affidavit doesn’t say whether Evans also had bruises or a fracture to his skull, which could show the severity of the blow.
Matthew Symons, the prosecutor’s spokesman, declined comment. He cited an earlier request by Brackin’s attorney, Eugene Hollander, for a gag order, which a Marion Superior Court judge denied.
Hollander also declined to comment.
He has filed a motion to grant bail, now set for a hearing July. The unusual move forces prosecutors to present their case and show it is strong enough to justify jailing Brackin without bond.
