May a law enforcement officer who personally investigates, but does not observe, a vehicle crash testify as to his opinion about who was driving the vehicle? Does the answer depend upon whether the officer is qualified as an expert in accident reconstruction?  The court of appeals considered those questions in State v. Denton, ___ N.C. App. ___ (June 4, 2019), decided yesterday. Facts. Timothy Denton and his friend Danielle Mitchell were in Denton’s mother’s car on August 1, 2014, when it ran off the road and wrecked. Denton and Mitchell were ejected from the car, and Mitchell died at the scene. Denton was severely injured and was air-lifted to the hospital. The vehicle smelled of alcohol, beer bottle caps were inside the vehicle, and a sealed bottle of beer was found on the ground by Mitchell’s body. Hospital blood tests revealed that Denton had a blood alcohol concentration of .18 and that benzodiazepine and cannabinoid were present in his urine. Circumstantial evidence indicated that Denton, who suffered a severe head injury and could not remember the day of the accident, was driving the car when it crashed. Denton was indicted for felony death by vehicle. Opinion Testimony. Two law enforcement officers testified for the State at trial.  The first, Trooper Fox, responded to the accident and investigated the scene. He found long strands of brown or dark-colored hair trapped in the passenger side of the vehicle and windshield glass.  Mitchell’s hair was dark brown. Fox also measured the distance from the [...]