Legal•Info

Polo Mogul Charged With DUI Manslaughter, Vehicular Homicide

Posted: Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010 at 11:41 am

A Palm Beach polo magnate who allegedly caused a fatal vehicular accident in February was on his way to get cocaine, say sources.

John Goodman, 46, had been drinking and dancing with friends at two bars, including the Players Club. There, he tried to convince a woman named Stacey Shore to accompany him on a quest for drugs. When she refused, say authorities, Goodman left the bar alone. Just moments later, his Bentley slammed into a car driven by 23-year-old Scott Wilson; Wilson’s car then flipped into a canal, where the recent college graduate drowned.

Goodman, who founded the International Polo Club Palm Beach and was active in the town’s polo scene, was charged last month with DUI manslaughter with failure to render aid and vehicular homicide with failure to render aid.

Friends of Goodman told investigators that the polo mogul was usually chauffeured home by an employee after spending evenings on the town, but that the employee had a family engagement on the night of February 11. So Goodman drove himself after paying the $212 bar tab, leaving just before 1 a.m. on February 12.

Just minutes later, the crash occurred. It is not clear where Goodman was going, but documents released this week revealed that he “drove past his residence prior to the collision.”

The records also indicate that Goodman wandered about on foot for nearly an hour after the accident, eventually finding himself on the property of a former polo player, Kris Kampsen, in order to look for a phone. He stumbled upon a woman sleeping in a trailer, woke her and borrowed her phone to call his girlfriend in Atlanta. She, in turn, called the horse trainer and sometimes-driver, who went to the crash scene. In the meantime, the woman in the trailer convinced Goodman to call 911. She later told deputies that he had asked her whether he should call police, and whether he appeared intoxicated.

“I did not, you know, see another car when I, um, pulled out,” Goodman said to the 911 dispatcher. “But I hit something and it had to have been another car.”

Goodman’s blood alcohol level was 0.177 percent, more than twice the 0.08 legal limit for driving in Florida. Although no traces of cocaine were found in his system, he did test positive for painkillers hydrocodone and dihydrocodeine, which he told medical personnel had been prescribed for chronic back pain.

Goodman is free on $100,00 bond. He is also being sued by Wilson’s family, who have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against both Goodman and the Players Club, claiming that he was drunk before he left that establishment.

 

Bookmark This Article:
| del.icio.us: | Digg: | Technorati: | Newsvine: | Reddit: | Furl: | |
| Stumble Upon: | Yahoo!: | Google: |