Blind woman's pain attested

Hit-and-run hurt her, killed guide dog

HILLSBOROUGH -- For months after a hit-and-run driver injured Danielle Iredale and killed her Seeing Eye dog, the blind woman rarely left her home and seemed depressed, her former roommate told a jury Monday.

"I remember her staying in bed a lot," said Elizabeth Balof-Bird. Iredale could not go to the bathroom by herself, shower or cook because of leg, arm and head injuries that affected her short-term memory, Balof-Bird testified.

Stephen Coffee, whom Iredale is suing for damages, has already pleaded guilty to felony hit-and-run, driving while impaired and other charges tied to the incident at the Carrboro bus stop Oct. 5, 2005. He was sentenced to four months in prison.

But Coffee pleaded without admitting responsibility, and he maintains he was not driving his car when it hit Iredale and her dog.

Iredale complained of pain for months and had nightmares about her dog, Inka, Balof-Bird testified Monday.

Defense attorney Kristie Farwell questioned how well Balof-Bird could judge Iredale's change in mood and behavior. The women had known each other for only about six weeks, and had been roommates for just four days before the wreck.

Also Monday, veterinarian Tara Kipp testified about her client's relationship with Inka, explaining how Iredale expected to care for Inka even after the German shepherd could no longer work as her guide dog.

"I know it pained her that she was unconscious and unable to do anything for Inka," Kipp said.

James Kutsch, president of Seeing Eye Inc., testified Monday about the time and money that goes into training seeing eye dogs and their owners.

Using his own guide dog, Anthony, Kutsch made his way up to the witness stand to testify.

Each dog costs $50,000 to $70,000 to train for a lifetime, Kutsch estimated.

The nonprofit group breeds dogs, and about half are then matched with owners, he said. The dogs spend 14 to 16 months with a family who house trains them, then get another four to six months training as guides.

For a final month, owner and dog are trained together as a team, Kutsch said, and dogs can work for about eight years on average.

Inka and Iredale had been together four years, lawyers said.

Instead of life with Iredale, she died at a bus stop.

When Carrboro police responded to the incident two years ago, they immediately identified the car that had fled the scene, Investigator Chris Atack testified.

It was parked in spot F14 at the Highland Hills apartments, just down the street from where the white Nissan Altima had swerved off the road and hit Iredale and her dog. The car was missing a sideview mirror found at the scene, and flecks of skin and strands of human and dog hair were lifted from the car, Atack said.

But police didn't try very hard to find another driver, defense lawyer Reid Russell intimated.

Within hours of the incident, Coffee told police an acquaintance named Brian he knew from his job at the bar He's Not Here had driven him home.

Coffee's lawyers said last week that Brian drove Coffee home because his girlfriend lived in the same apartment complex.