Convict faces more charges in fatal wreck
Published 11:59 am Wednesday, May 23, 2012
A convicted felon facing a manslaughter charge in the death of a mother of three has been indicted again, to add a weapons charge.
Albert Brisco Jr., 24, 900 Wabash Ave., appeared before Circuit Court Judge Isadore Patrick Friday to be arraigned after the new indictment by the Warren County grand jury, which met early this month, for negligent homicide and possession of a firearm by a felon. He is charged in the Feb. 20, 2011, death of Latoshia Haggan, 31, 122 John Allen St.
The arraignment was made public Tuesday afternoon.
Brisco initially was indicted and arraigned in October on the manslaughter charge. Represented by Bernard Jones, Brisco entered a plea of not guilty. His trial is set for Dec. 10.
In August 2007, Brisco pleaded guilty in Warren County Circuit Court to residential burglary and received a suspended six-year sentence on the condition he complete the Drug Court program. The sentence was revoked and he went to prison in 2008.
After his arrest on the day of the fatal wreck, deputies found a .25-caliber Beretta pistol in his vehicle.
Haggan was a passenger in Brisco’s Dodge Durango when he sped through a roadblock set up by Warren County deputies near Indiana Avenue and Blossom Lane. Deputies gave chase, but spotted the vehicle only once, as it topped a hill on North Frontage Road near the Sun Koon restaurant on the opposite side of the highway.
Brisco was traveling 76 mph when he failed to stop at a T-intersection at Old Highway 27 and the Dodge careened over a 75-foot hill before landing upside-down on a Kansas City Southern Railway track, according to court records. The speed limit on that section of North Frontage Road is 45 mph.
Two passengers, Nicholas M. Smith and Jerome M. Massey, were treated and released from River Region Medical Center. Brisco was treated at a Jackson hospital before being jailed.
Haggan was pronounced dead at the crash site. An autopsy lists her cause of death as a punctured lung and blunt impact injuries.
Haggan’s sister, Chondra Haggan, said she was on the phone with her sister “the whole time” as the wreck occurred.
Latoshia Haggan’s three children were with her mother when the wreck occurred, Chondra Haggan said. The children are Dearius Harris, 10, Devonta Harris, 9, and Ariell Haggan, 6.
After his arrest, Brisco told deputies that he was evading arrest because he had been drinking at a club on Lee Road, records show. A blood sample taken from Brisco showed he had a blood alcohol level of .04 — half the legal limit — at the time of the crash, but he also had marijuana and Ecstacy in his system, according to a report from the state crime lab.
In January, Brisco was arrested on another weapons charge when police found a .357 Magnum revolver on the back floor of his car during a traffic stop at Confederate Avenue and Halls Ferry Road for a seat belt violation. He was indicted and arraigned Friday on that charge also.