GASTONIA, N.C. — The sentencing hearing for Roger Self, the man who drove his car into the Surf & Turf Lodge in Bessemer City, North Carolina, and killed his daughter and daughter-in-law, began Tuesday in Gaston County.
Self was having lunch with his family on May 20, 2018, when he left the restaurant, got in his car and crashed it into the dining room.
In January, Self pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of his daughter, Katelyn Self, and his daughter-in-law, Amanda Self. Katelyn was a corporal with the Gaston County Sheriff's Office. Amanda was a nurse at CaroMont Regional Medical Center in Gastonia. Self's son, Joshua, a Gaston County police officer, as well as his wife, Dianne Self, and 13-year-old granddaughter were injured in the crash.
Self is facing a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. The sentencing is expected to take a few days.
Joshua Self was the first witness to take the stand in Tuesday's hearing. He said his father's mental health had been declining in the months leading up to the crash.
"He was worried about everything at that point," Self said.
The last moment he remembered that day was when his sister, Dep. Katelyn Self, looking out the restaurant window.
"I remember Kate saying, 'What's he doing?'" Self recalled as their father was in the parking lot.
Those would be her last words as Roger Self lined up his SUV with the restaurant's wheelchair ramp and accelerated into the dining room.
Catherine Picard, a Crowders Mountain Rescue EMT, was one of the first people on-scene, and she saw climbed into Roger Self's SUV to check on him.
"He told me not to [expletive] touch him," Picard said. "That he knew what he had done, that he did it."
Bessemer City Police Officer Greg Owens said when he arrived a few minutes later, Roger Self was out of his SUV and in handcuffs.
As he placed Self into his squad car, a paramedic asked Self to sign a waiver, which said he didn't need medical care.
"As soon as I got the handcuff off, he reached for my firearm," Ofc. Owens said. "I grabbed his wrist and put him back in handcuffs and shut the door."
In court, prosecutors played video of Self's interrogation at Bessemer City Police headquarters.
During his interview with detectives, Self told them he had been battling mental health problems.
"That was not me. That was another man doing it," Self said. "I was overtaken by whatever came inside of me."
Tashia Witherspoon, a paramedic, recalled when Amanda Self was brought into CaroMont Regional Medical Center. She was a nurse in the same emergency department.
"It was just very chaotic. There was a lot of people crying and running and trying to help," Witherspoon said. "Several people collapsed in the ER when they saw it was her."
Just days after the crash, Austin Rammell, the family's pastor, said Roger Self was suffering from severe depression. They took Self seriously when he asked members of his church to remove guns from his house.
“Realizing he was struggling with depression, it was in the early stage, and being smart enough to understand, he started realizing, ‘something ain’t right,’” Rammell explained. “He called and said, ‘I need y’all to take these guns.’ That ramped it up to, ‘Oh, he’s serious.’”
Sheriff Alan Cloninger said he hired Katelyn Self on the recommendation of her father. In the two years since her passing, Cloninger has issued an annual award dedicated in her memory to the deputy who performs at a high level and maintains the department's family environment.
"We gave her a chance, and she excelled," Sheriff Cloninger said. "She was a free spirit that could make anyone smile."
Caleb Martin was bussing tables at the restaurant and had just walked into the kitchen when he heard a crash in the dining room.
"I turned the corner and saw the back of a white care in the doorway," Martin said. "I didn't know what to do."