| Bucky Covington, one of the eight remaining finalists on "American Idol," was once arrested for his involvement in a bizarre incident in which he pretended to be his twin-brother to help the sibling avoid criminal prosecution. The case ended in a trial that was so strange the prosecuting attorney said he "hadn't seen anything like it in 10 years of practicing law."
With his weekly exposure on "American Idol," Covington, 28, has become the pride of Richmond County, North Carolina. He is a good old boy in a cowboy hat who idolizes Kid Rock and proudly performs the songs of Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Bucky has an identical twin named Rocky. When Rocky attended a taping of the Fox hit last month, host Ryan Seacrest invited him onstage with his brother (in the photo at left, Bucky is wearing the dark shirt).
The brothers are both skinny, sport shoulder length blonde hair and each has a moustache. Unless you were a family member it was impossible to tell the Covington boys apart.
On the afternoon of February 25, 1998, Gene Covington, the boys' father, was on his motorcycle, waiting to make a left turn and pull into his family driveway, situated near the crest of a hill in Laurinburg, North Carolina. Behind him and also waiting to pull in was Rocky (his real name is Robert), then 20 years old, driving alone in his twin's 1997 Chevrolet pickup.
As the Covingtons waited for the oncoming traffic to pass, high-school student Ryan Roller, 16, was driving up the hill behind them in his father's Toyota pickup, unable to see the vehicles over the crest.
When he did finally notice the truck stopped in front of him, Roller hit his brakes to avoid an accident but skidded into the back of the pickup. No one was hurt, although the crash caused about $2,000 in damage to each vehicle. Gene Covington was able to move his bike before he was hit.
What should have been an inconsequential matter became complicated, because Rocky's license had been under suspension for the previous 16 months, for speeding, drinking while driving and driving with a revoked license, according to state motor vehicle records. Since North Carolina law enforcement is required to investigate accidents that cause more than $500 in damage, authorities would soon arrive on the scene.
Fearful that his son could face a jail sentence for being caught a second time driving with a suspended license, Gene Covington concocted a ruse on the spot that he hoped would spare Rocky further trouble.
His plan was to find Bucky (William is his real name), bring him back to the accident scene, and tell the authorities that Bucky (whose license was in good standing, despite prior convictions for speeding and reckless driving) had been the person driving the truck, replacing one twin with the other.
"Gene told me to tell the police that Bucky was driving and had been the one who was rear-ended," Roller explained in a recent interview. "I was 16 at the time and scared to death." He was also concerned about who would pay for damage to the two trucks.
Contacted at the family-owned auto body shop where both he and his brother work, Rocky explained to Court TV that he told Roller "'No matter if a gorilla was driving it, you're still going to have to pay to have this truck fixed. But if you tell the state trooper that I was driving, the only thing that would happen is that I'd get in trouble.'" Roller acquiesced.
Everyone agreed to adhere to the lie, so when State Trooper Randy London turned up at the scene to investigate, his report noted that Bucky (left) had been behind the wheel. The hoax seemed to have worked.
Until, that is, Ryan Roller got home and, feeling nervous and guilty, confessed the whole plot to his father, Kenneth. "I said 'He's asking you to lie. What's he doing for you?'" the elder Roller recalls."'Is he going to pay for the repairs to your vehicle?'"
They confronted Gene Covington, who not only refused to compensate them for their repairs but also indicated that he planned to file a claim to have the Roller's insurance pay for the damages to his son's pickup.
The Rollers got home, phoned Trooper London and Ryan explained to him the true story. London contacted a Richmond County District Court magistrate to obtain an arrest warrant for Bucky, charging him with resisting a public officer and giving fictitious information to a public officer.
"Yeah, it was a cover-up," London remembers. "Bucky and his brother concocted a story."
Rocky Covington doesn't dispute that he was driving and that he lied to the trooper, although he is still angry at London. "Why did he believe the Rollers?" he asks. "They switched their story. Our story stayed the same." Rocky, who was later charged with hit and run, driving with a suspended license and leaving the scene of an accident (all the charges against the brothers were misdemeanors), says "What I should have done was just grabbed Bucky's drivers license and showed him that. He never would have been able to tell the difference."
In July, both brothers were tried in District Court. The proceedings provided moments that could have been plucked from a Farrelly Brothers comedy. "The judge asked me if I could point out which brother was in the vehicle I hit," Ryan Roller says. "I picked out the wrong one. That was bad."
"We couldn't say which one did what," recalls Lewis Fadely, the assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case. "In a criminal trial, you have to be able to say 'the defendant did this, this and this.' We couldn't. They looked so gosh darn the same." The judge dismissed all charges.
"Being a twin helped out then," Rocky says. "That was the only time we ever used that kind of twin story."
Fans of "American Idol" are predicting that Bucky Covington will likely be the next contestant to be eliminated. Since Rocky is also a musician, perhaps Simon and the other judges should double-check to see which brother performs this week.
(April 10, 2006) | |
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