Testimony: Brawl involving women preceded St. Ursula grad's dragging death Downtown

Madie Hart had been pounding on the car Briana Benson was driving shortly before Benson struck Hart and dragged her nearly 90 feet on a Downtown street, one of Benson's attorneys said.

What happened the early morning of March 26, 2017 was an accident, attorney Eric Buchakjian said during opening statements in Benson's murder trial. He said Benson, now 21, was trying to drive away from Hart.

“It was caused by fear. It was caused by confusion. It was caused by panic," Buchakjian told jurors.

Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Anne Flanagan said Benson deliberately drove into the 18-year-old Hart out of anger.

"It's a type of road rage," Flanagan said during opening statements Wednesday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. "This was a deliberate driving of a motor vehicle into a human being."

Testimony Wednesday revealed that the incident was fueled by alcohol and a long-simmering feud between Hart's friend, Anna Castano, and another woman, Myah Wright.

About a month before, Castano sought a restraining order against Wright, whom she had once considered her best friend. Castano testified that she received threatening text messages from Wright.

According to testimony, Hart, Castano and others were Downtown the night of the incident, drinking and bar-hopping. Hart and Castano, who was 19 at the time, were using fake IDs.

Castano said one of Wright's friends began calling her iPhone.

Castano testified that she felt a fight "had to happen" so Wright would leave her alone. Hart, she added, was "feeling that it was going to happen."

Surveillance camera video as well as Snapchat video showed a brawl involving several women happened shortly before Hart was struck by the car.

In the video played in court Wednesday, Castano, Hart and others walk down the sidewalk when a car turns the corner. Castano runs up to a car, opens the back passenger side door and begins punching Wright.

Several others, most of them women, get involved. At one point Benson can be seen dragging Castano by the hair and punching her. In a Snapchat video, Hart is seen pushing another woman against a wall. Hart's shirt is eventually pulled off and she ends up sitting cross-legged on the sidewalk.

Benson then attacks Hart, punching and kicking her.

Castano said her iPhone as well as a small purse, which contained Hart's keys, ended up in the car, which drove away.

Hart went after the car.

Previously released city surveillance video showed the car Benson was driving stop on Walnut Street. It then reversed and made a hard right turn, which is when prosecutors say Hart was struck.

Officials have said Hart was dragged approximately 88 feet by the car.

More: Suspect in Madie Hart's death 'vehemently denies' charges

More: 'People screaming in the streets': 911 calls from fatal Downtown crash

Hart, a St. Ursula Academy graduate and student at Ohio State University's Newark campus, died four days later.

Benson faces charges including aggravated vehicular homicide and two counts of murder. The trial is before Judge Robert Winkler.

More: 18-year-old Ursula grad 'intentionally' struck by driver over weekend has died