Family, Friends of Fatal Crash Victim Challenge Police Version of Events

Friends and relatives of Greg Fuller are disputing police accounts of what happened Friday when the along Honeygo Boulevard in Perry Hall.

Police have said that Fuller's friend, Jonathan Henry, was driving Fuller's 2004 Audi TT Coupe when it crashed into a light pole at around 1:30 a.m. on Friday, said Det. Cathy Batton, a Baltimore County police spokeswoman.

Fuller, 23, was ejected from the car and pronounced dead at the scene. Henry, also 23, of the 9200 block of Georgia Bell Drive in Perry Hall, suffered a head injury and was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

Henry was charged with three alcohol-related traffic offenses, police said. Investigators suspect excessive speed was also a factor in the accident, Batton said. Baltimore County police are still investigating the accident and could not discuss details about why they believe Henry was the driver.

But friends of Henry—and even Fuller's father and girlfriend—have told Patch that police investigators are mistaken. They say Fuller was driving and Henry was the passenger.

Pawel Dybala of Middle River said there is no way Henry was the one behind the wheel.

Dybala, a longtime friend of both men, spent Thursday with the two as part of a group that had been celebrating St. Patrick’s Day at Della Rose’s at The Avenue in White Marsh.

Dybala said Fuller was the designated driver for the night and he witnessed Fuller get into the driver’s seat when he left the restaurant with Henry, who told Patch in an interview that he was too drunk to drive. The car also belonged to Fuller.

“I saw Greg get into the driver’s seat,” said Dybala, who as of Monday night said he had not been interviewed by police. “He was planning to be the designated driver and was on his way to take Jon home when something tragic happened along the way. We’re all looking for answers right now.”

Henry, who suffered two broken clavicles, seven broken ribs and a head injury in the accident, said he has no memory of the accident or leaving for the night. The last thing Henry remembers before the accident was going to Della Rose’s.

Henry said he didn’t know Fuller was dead until police told him while he was still in the hospital. Henry said that police also told him that he was driving and that he had killed his friend.

“Greg drove us to the restaurant,” Henry said. “He knew there was no way I could drive [home].”

Angela Foehrkolb, Fuller’s girlfriend, said losing the love of her life so tragically has been difficult enough without also worrying about whether Henry will go to jail for something she doesn’t believe he did.

“We texted all night long and Greg insisted all night long that he was going to be the driver for the night,” Foehrkolb said.

Foehrkolb, 22, who was in school at West Virginia University at the time of the accident, provided Patch with several text messages between herself and Fuller that she believes proves Henry wasn’t driving.

“I’m kinda the designated driver, so I’ll be out till they want to go home,” Fuller texted Foehrkolb around 12:30 a.m. on Friday.

Fuller then texted Foehrkolb again at 12:45 a.m.: “Don’t want to impair my judgment [by drinking too much] while your (sic) not with me to keep me straight.”

Anthony Fuller, Greg Fuller’s father, said he has been frustrated with the police investigation. He said the police were too quick to point the finger at Henry without examining all of the facts. He would like to see police test the blood found in the driver and passenger’s seats to prove who was sitting in which seat.

After speaking with his son’s friends, examining the car’s wreckage and visiting the accident scene, the elder Fuller said what happened to his son was a tragic accident—but that it was not the result of Henry driving drunk.

Photos of the car wreckage show that the car’s passenger side was caved in. This has led Anthony Fuller and others to speculate that only someone on the driver’s side, which wasn’t crushed, could have been ejected from the car, which is what happened to Fuller.

“The police wanted me from the beginning to press charges against Jon,” Anthony Fuller said. “Even when I believed he was the driver that wasn’t something I wanted to do. If Jon—who I consider to be like a son to me—were responsible, then I believe that knowing he killed his best friend would be punishment enough. The facts just don’t point to him being behind the wheel.”