Local
Occupants Of Pickup Truck Testify At Former Lincoln County Deputy's Trial
By Mike Thomas and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
May 16, 2007 - 4:55:12 AM

Four friends who were inside the pickup truck where two Lincoln County man were shot to death by a Lincoln County sheriff’s deputy, testified at the deputy’s trial Tuesday in Columbia.

The friends said they barely noticed when the truck rolled slowly backward toward the deputy during a traffic stop.   Julie Yerke, a passenger in the truck said "All I remember is I could vaguely hear someone saying 'Stop,' and then we heard two pops."  Yerke testified Tuesday at Sgt. Nic Forler's trial on two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Forler shot and killed 23 year old Michael Brown of Troy, and 22 year old Tyler Teasley of Silex, after he pulled Teasley's truck over on a speeding charge on Oct. 23, 2005. The four others in the car were not injured. Forler has told
investigators the truck backed up quickly after he pulled behind it and that he feared for his life.

Forler's trial is being held this week in Columbia's Boone County Circuit Court — moved there due to pretrial publicity.

About 75 people filled the courtroom benches Tuesday, including family and friends of the victims, the defendant, and several members of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department. Forler was fired from the department after he was charged in February 2006.

On Monday, jurors heard testimony from the passengers in the truck, medical examiners, the couple who were awakened that night by the scene in their driveway, a sheriff's deputy who later arrived at the scene and Missouri Highway Patrol investigators.

Forler's attorney, Joe McCulloch, declined to give an opening statement. Special Prosecutor Kevin Zoellner used his opening to tell jurors that yes, all the people in Teasley's truck were drinking that night. And yes, Teasley pulled into a subdivision to hide from Forler. But, Zoellner said, the fastest the truck ever rolled into the driveway was 3.9 mph, and it would have taken almost eight seconds to roll backward and hit the patrol car. The impact of the truck put a "little bitty dent" on the front metal grill of the patrol car, Zoellner said.