From the Main Line Times:
By Richard Ilgenfritz
A Villanova woman will have to spend at least 90 days imprisoned after pleading guilty Tuesday to charges stemming from a hit-and-run crash that severely injured a teenager in Bryn Mawr one year ago. A judge will have to decide whether she will be allowed to serve out that mandatory minimum sentence at home under house arrest.
Suzanne Lammers, 76, admitted in the Norristown courtroom of Judge William R. Carpenter that she struck a 13-year-old Bryn Mawr boy as he rode his bike along New Gulph Road near Morris in Bryn Mawr last July.
According to Thomas W. McGoldrick, assistant district attorney for Montgomery County, Lammers was driving west on New Gulph Road when she struck the child. After being thrown from his bike, the child hit her windshield and fell from the car...
By Richard Ilgenfritz
A Villanova woman will have to spend at least 90 days imprisoned after pleading guilty Tuesday to charges stemming from a hit-and-run crash that severely injured a teenager in Bryn Mawr one year ago. A judge will have to decide whether she will be allowed to serve out that mandatory minimum sentence at home under house arrest.
Suzanne Lammers, 76, admitted in the Norristown courtroom of Judge William R. Carpenter that she struck a 13-year-old Bryn Mawr boy as he rode his bike along New Gulph Road near Morris in Bryn Mawr last July.
According to Thomas W. McGoldrick, assistant district attorney for Montgomery County, Lammers was driving west on New Gulph Road when she struck the child. After being thrown from his bike, the child hit her windshield and fell from the car...
...She then turned around and drove back past the crash scene and went north on Morris Avenue before taking her car home and parking it in her garage. The car sat in her garage until police received an anonymous tip that the car that struck the teenager was inside the garage ...
...Frank DeSimone, the attorney for Lammers, said he would ask the court to allow her to serve the mandatory 90 days in prison under house arrest at her Villanova home. She has been on bail and has not been in jail since the crash occurred. McGoldrick said the state would oppose the house arrest. A sentencing date has not yet been determined.
We reported on this incident last July here and the ID on the driver here
Hit and Run is a despicable crime. Amazingly in PA it is only a summary offense. The fact that Ms. Lammers attorney still has a shot at getting her to spend her sentence in her comfortable home gives me the creeps, privilege has its privileges, like the lifeboat passengers on the Titanic. Let's hope the Judge prescribes a just sentence for the sake of the victim and for bicyclists everywhere in Pennsylvania.
4 comments:
I'm assuming what you call "Hit and Run" in PA is the "Duty to give information and Render Aid" statute (PA Veh Code 3744) That is a summary offense. But what Lammers did would qualify as a felony or misdemeanor under other statues that deal with leaving the scene of a vehilce crash, such as: PA Veh Code 3742 - Accidents involving death or bodily injury and PA Veh Code 3743 Accidents involving damage to attended veh. or property. Both deal with leaving the scene of crashes.
You misinform your readers by leading them to believe that PA has lax laws when it comes to crimes like this.
I really wish the Coalition would do some research before it posts.
Mrs. Lammers pleaded guilty too two charges, not one as the blog post implies; one count of accidents involving death or personal injury, a felony of the third degree. She also pleaded guilty to a summary offense of leaving the scene of an accident without stopping and rendering aid. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of three years, six months to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine. The charge also includes a mandatory minimum sentence of 90 days of imprisonment.
Details are here: http://tinyurl.com/26u4nlc
Please contact Assistant District Attorney Thomas McGoldrick (TMcGoldr@montcopa.org) before the sentencing hearing with your recommendation for the sentence that the people should seek. "
As describes in the articles, the woman knowingly left a severely injured person in the road. He could have been run over by another vehicle or just died there from his injuries.
I'm surprised such a lenient sentence is being offered, unless there are additional facts not given in the various news articles.
Additionally, her described behavior shows she is both an incompetent driver and an irresponsible one. She should have her driver's license permanently pulled.
This is an incredibly minor sentence for such egregious behavior. There are no two ways about it.
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