Trial For New Jersey Father Accused of Fleeing Scene & Dying Son Begins

A New Jersey father accused of stealing from the Tullytown Walmart before crashing his Jeep and running away from the scene – leaving his lifeless son behind – began to stand trial Monday.

Christopher D. Kuhn, 27, of Hamilton, New Jersey, was visibly shaken when testimony turned towards his late son – Qaden Trivell – who was 2 at the time of Kuhn’s alleged crime.

On the first day of the trial, prosecutor Robert James, the county’s chief attorney for homicide by vehicle, brought 10 witnesses to the stand including Walmart employees, bystanders, participants in the crash, and law enforcement officers who responded to the collision at Route 13 and the Home Depot entrance to the Levittown Town Center on October 3.

Kuhn waived his right to a jury trial, instead electing to place his fate in the hands of presiding Judge Robert Baldi.

The narrative presented by prosecutors on Monday laid out how Kuhn was in Walmart on Tuesday, October 3. He placed a Vizio soundbar valued at about $220 in his cart and proceeded to the front of the store. Walmart loss prevention employee Ronald Cromwell followed Kuhn and he apparently hesitated before attempting to leave the store with the soundbar. Cromwell confronted Kuhn and the New Jersey father took his son and fled the store, walking to his gold Jeep, according to witness testimony.

When Kuhn reached the Jeep, he helped his son into the car, according to witness testimony, and sped off towards Route 13. Less than a minute later, he blew a red light and collided with a car attempting to make a left turn. The collision put Kuhn’s car on its side and it slid before coming back down on its wheels. According to witnesses, Kuhn fled from the scene.

Police arrived shortly after the crash and set about finding Kuhn. Kuhn initially complied with police requests, but once he realized he was going back to the scene, he allegedly became extremely distressed, culminating in a drop to his knees before being forced into a squad car.

“I was just standing there in shock that my car didn’t get hit,” said Lisa Gabrielson, who was in her car near the scene when the crash happened.

During the testimony of Tullytown police officer Justin Grotz, James played a piece of video evidence that showed Grotz’s dashboard camera footage during his response to the scene. The footage showed paramedics taking the boy’s body to an ambulance. Throughout a large portion of the video, Kuhn’s tortured wails as he sat in the squad car are prominent.

Officers Grotz and John Finby both talked about their efforts to perform CPR and save Qaden’s life. However, their best efforts were futile.

It has been alleged that Qaden was not properly restrained in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

At the time of the crash, Kuhn was operating his Jeep with a suspended licence and a blood draw revealed he had both THC and Ocycodone in his system.

Kuhn is being defended by a pair of public defenders – Bradley Bastedo and Caroline Criste. Kuhn’s trial is expected to wrap up on Wednesday.

Kuhn was charged with with third-degree murder, homicide by vehicle, accidents involving death, retail theft, endangering the welfare of a child, reckless endangering a child, disobeying traffic control signals, driving while operating privilege is suspended and reckless driving. An additional summary charge related to not securing his son in a car seat was added at the trial.