Lawyers planning strategy D.A.: More charges eyed in 7-year-old's death
By Meredith Raine
TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Armed with documents on a high-speed chase and a life cut short, 15 investigators met Thursday at the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office to map out a plan for prosecution. They diagrammed the escape route that authorities say Jamal Tait took Monday before his sports utility vehicle struck and killed 7-year-old Raymond Michelotti Jr. on a North Side street. Then, with the evidence on the table, District Attorney Stephen Zappala advised police what needs to be done to finish the criminal investigation and compile charges against Tait. "It's my job to prosecute this guy to the fullest intent of the law, and that's what I intend to do," Zappala said.

Tait already is in the Allegheny County Jail on a charge of vehicular homicide, and Zappala said more charges are to come Monday or Tuesday. "One deals with the degree of homicide and there are other charges - everything from reckless endangerment of another person to firearms violations," Zappala said. By police accounts, Tait is a 22-year-old North Side felon with no remorse to go along with his rap sheet. But his mother, Theresa Allen Tait, and attorney Patrick J. Thomassey said Tait is a 19-year-old who is despondent over the death of a little boy on a bicycle he claims he never saw.

Tait's most recent brush with the law came Monday when neighbors on Spruce Run Road in Avalon told police he sped down their street and someone in his Chevrolet Blazer flashed a gun. Zappala said Avalon police spotted Tait's vehicle and initiated a high-speed pursuit. Bellevue officers joined in the chase through commercial and residential areas when Tait refused to pull over. Early in the chase, Zappala said, either Tait or one of the two teen-age boys in the Blazer threw out a .38-caliber pistol that had been reported stolen. Investigators said the police called off the intense pursuit seven blocks short of the intersection at Beckham Street and Gass Avenue where Raymond was riding his bicycle. Zappala said officers continued to follow in the direction of Tait's vehicle, but slowed down to the posted speed limit and turned off their sirens. Witnesses estimated that Tait was driving at least 50 mph - and maybe as fast as 80 mph - when his airborne Blazer knocked Raymond from the bike. The vehicle plunged down a set of city steps and overturned. Tait and his two passengers fled from the wreckage.

Raymond, a quiet boy who weighed only 39 pounds, was thrown about 160 feet to the bottom of the steep roadway in front of his home. He was hit with such force that his bicycle helmet and shoes came off. Since the accident, neighbors have planted roses, carnations and wild flowers in a patch of dirt next to the city steps on Gass Avenue. At the foot of the makeshift memorial, someone wrote in chalk, "Ray R.I.P." Raymond's funeral is at noon today at All Saints Episcopal Church on McClure Avenue, just a few blocks from where he was killed. Raymond had gone to Sunday school there and sung in the children's choir. Some of his relatives have said the suburban police are to blame for Tait's reckless driving and the death of Raymond, who recently completed the first grade at John Morrow Elementary School. Tait's attorney said he isn't blaming the police, but is concerned about the pursuit through densely populated neighborhoods. "I just hope for the sake of everyone involved that this high-speed chase was necessary," Thomassey said.

Zappala said he is not considering any charges against any of the officers who pursued Tait. "There is no indication that they were proceeding in a fashion that would put other people at risk," the district attorney said. As for the two teen-age boys who were with Tait, Zappala said he has not determined if they will be criminally charged. "Obviously the most severe crime was committed by Mr. Tait, so we are keying in on him," Zappala said. Tait faces a preliminary hearing on the vehicular homicide charge at 1 p.m. July 2 in Pittsburgh traffic court. Thomassey, who has represented Tait in previous criminal cases, said his client is mourning Raymond's death. "He said he never saw the boy," Thomassey said. "He has no recollection of hitting this kid. It's such a tragedy. I don't think that anyone - the police or my client - thought this would end up with this little boy being hit."