A road traffic collision expert today linked a former senator’s taxi to injuries on a deceased football star.

Glenn Luben, from Florida, told the Supreme Court that injuries found on Marco Warren’s body matched the dimensions of a vehicle driven by Curtis Richardson.

He added that, given the lighting in the area and distance, a competent motorist could have stopped before impact.

Mr Luben said: “I can comfortably say there was no other vehicle that ran over Mr Warren.”

However, Victoria Greening, for the defence, questioned the integrity of the investigation.

Mr Richardson, 51, has pleaded not guilty to causing Mr Warren’s death by driving without due care and attention.

The incident was alleged to have happened in the early hours of May 14, 2023, near the intersection of North Shore Road and Trinity Church Road in Hamilton Parish.

Mr Luben said the Bermuda Police Service contacted him in October 2023 for help reconstructing a crime scene and determining what happened.

He said he analysed the area during the day and at night to understand the “dynamics of the road”.

He said he examined two vehicles, a taxi licensed to the defendant, and a BMW, that were spotted during the time of the incident.

He was also given witness statements, investigation findings and autopsy results.

Regarding the body, Mr Luben noted some “burn marks” across the left side of the back and abrasions and markings across the chest.

Mr Luben said the pattern matched the measurements of the transmission support beam of the taxi Mr Richardson drove.

He explained: “In the undercarriage, there’s a lot of bolts. This is not a normal pattern on the body, especially with grease that was there.”

Mr Luben added that, based on the “striation” of some abrasions, it appeared the victim was “run over” and the body rolled along asphalt.

He also referenced markings found on the upper left leg above the knee, which corresponded with markings found in the same area of the pants leg.

Mr Luben said: “When I saw them, the light bulb went on and I thought ‘that looks like a bumper’.”

He added: “You can tell by the front line. Those are the width of the front lining bumper of that taxi.”

Mr Luben further said the vehicle that struck him could not have been low to the ground, because it would have thrown Mr Warren over the vehicle, which the injuries did not indicate.

Mr Luben said: “It was the blunt indent of the vehicle; it’s not something like a Corvette. This was a blunt vehicle.”

He added: “He was upright — walking or standing upright in the road.”

Mr Luben told the jury that “after putting everything together”, he concluded that the taxi in question had been “the vehicle that ran over Marco Warren in the eastbound lane of North Shore Road”.

Mr Luben also clarified that the vehicle would have travelled at “low or medium speed” before impact, as a higher-speed collision would have broken bones and “pushed the victim farther down the road”.

The witness discounted environmental factors playing a role as the road was dry, with no rain and a street light nearby.

Carrington Mahoney, for the Crown, asked Mr Luben if a “reasonably experienced, unimpaired driver” could have spotted someone.

Mr Luben said there was “significant time and distance” that a driver “could have or would have taken action”.

During cross examination, Ms Greening pointed out the e-mail correspondence between Mr Luben and Jason Smith of the Bermuda Police Service, who was heading the investigation.

She mentioned Mr Smith called for his “expert opinion and analysis” to, according to the message, “assist in proving that the suspect’s vehicle was involved in the collision”.

He suggested he was directed by police to find evidence that connected the taxi to the road death.

However, Mr Luben said he had been given similarly worded instructions in the past when assisting in Bermudian investigations.

He added: “The facts are the facts and that’s what happened at the end.”

Ms Greening asked if it was possible Mr Warren was run over by another vehicle. Mr Luben denied this.

She further asked if he had considered investigating a Mazda-style vehicle that was spotted by Renée Wallace, another witness.

Mr Luben said another vehicle would have suffered significant damage, and added that no one had come forward with such a car.

He confirmed during cross examination that no eyewitness saw Mr Warren being struck.

Ms Greening suggested he may have already been in the road when Mr Curtis rode past.

She further asked if he could have been staggering or moving “unpredictably”.

Mr Luben said it was possible for him to have staggered, but that he did not believe such a factor would have made a difference.

The trial continues.

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