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CHESAPEAKE — Edmund Hoyt was at home sleeping when his wife called him, saying she had been stabbed, a detective said Friday in court.
Hoyt, an off-duty Norfolk police officer who was not in uniform, drove toward the Food Lion off Bainbridge Boulevard in South Norfolk.
When he arrived, he didn’t see injuries on his wife or a knife on Kelvin White, the detective said Hoyt told him.
But Hoyt pulled out his personal gun, ordered White to the ground, re-holstered his gun and then went “hands on” with White, Chesapeake Detective James Thomas said.
Hoyt told the detective he saw White with a knife during the struggle, backed away and fired, the detective said. White, 42, died at a hospital.
No one called Chesapeake police until after White had been shot.
At a preliminary hearing Friday, General District Judge Michael Katchmark found prosecutors had established probable cause in the case and sent the charges to Circuit Court, moving the case a step closer toward eventual trial.
Hoyt, 34, is charged with voluntary manslaughter and remains out on bond.
White was shot and killed in the afternoon Jan. 19, roughly a third of a mile from his home.
At a bond hearing in September, prosecutor D.J. Hansen said Hoyt escalated the confrontation and didn’t need to go “hands on” with White. Thomas, the detective, said he saw no injuries on Hoyt’s wife.
Hoyt’s defense attorney, James Broccoletti, has previously said his client was defending his wife and children by stepping in front of a man who was armed with a knife and had a history of mental illness.
According to prosecutors, Hoyt’s wife said she was pushing their children in a stroller that afternoon when White confronted her and told her she couldn’t pass him on the sidewalk.
The wife said she had mace and wasn’t afraid to use it; White, who was schizophrenic, said he had a knife and would stab her, although he didn’t take out a weapon. She said her husband was a police officer, and White said he’d stab him, too.
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Prosecutors have said Hoyt’s wife called her husband instead of 911.
Hoyt told the detective he identified himself to White as an off-duty officer, according to testimony. He said White didn’t listen and was aggressive and angry.
Hoyt was scratched or cut on the right side of his face during the struggle, marks that Thomas said appeared consistent with fingernail scratches. Hoyt became emotional and cried when he later found out White had died, the detective said.
Investigators recovered six shell casings from the scene. White had a backpack filled with books strapped to his chest, and police found five bullets in the books, according to testimony.
No weapons were found in the backpack. Police removed a hose cutter from White’s pants, and a knife was later found at the scene, according to testimony.
In court in September, both the prosecutor and defense attorney said White had prior incidents with other neighbors. White’s family has said he wasn’t violent and likely would have complied with police if he knew the person was an officer.
Margaret Matray, 757-222-5216, margaret.matray@pilotonline.com