WEST GOSHEN, PA : Men waive hearings in car crash cases on Saturday, September 30th 2017
Two men whose distracted driving allegedly caused serious car crashes — one of them fatal — are heading to Common Pleas Court after waiving their preliminary hearings.
Jalmeel Conway, 26, of New Jersey and Timothy Tauscher, 25, of West Chester both appeared before Magisterial District Judge William Kraut on Thursday with their attorneys to agree to have their cases transferred to the trial court without a hearing. Such decisions usually indicate a defendant’s intention to pursue a plea agreement in the case.
Kraut explained the rights that were available to the men to have the prosecution — in both cases led by Chester County District Attorney Chief of Staff Charles Gaza — put on a preliminary case that would show that a crime had been committed and that they likely were involved. Conway and Tauscher listened intently, but said little during the brief proceedings.
Defense attorneys David Clark of West Chester, representing Tauscher, and Lloyd Long of Philadelphia, representing Conway, declined comment afterwards.
The September 2016 crash in which Conway was involved caused the death of a motorcyclist, Dorian Dumas of Penn Valley while he was waiting at a stop light on Route 202, south of West Chester. Conway allegedly rear-ended the motorcycle as he was hurrying to get to work at a local movie theater.
He is charged with accidents involving death or personal injury while not property licensed, homicide by vehicle, reckless driving, careless driving and driving while operating privilege is suspended or revoked. His New Jersey license was allegedly suspended in August 2016.
Tauscher was reportedly on his way to work at an area McDonald’s when he struck a road construction flag man who was working at a site on Pottstown Pike north of West Chester in June. The worker was seriously injured, and spent several weeks in a coma. The flagman, identified as Michael D’Agostino, was recently released from Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital in East Goshen.
Both defendants are free on bail pending trial.
According to Westtown-East Goshen police, at 9:03 a.m. Sept. 14, 2016 Conway was supposed to start his shift at the AMC Theater at Painters Crossing in Chadds Ford. He accelerated his 2013 Ford Fusion as he drove south on Route 202, swerving in and out of the two lanes to make it in as soon as he could, according to court documents, since he was late.
He collided with Dumas’ motorcycle that was stopped in a line of traffic at the intersection of Route 202 and Pleasant Grove Road, just south of the entrance to Stetson Middle School and about five miles from the movie theater where Conway worked. The collision threw the motorcycle rider from his seat and into a guardrail that separates the south and northbound lanes of travel on the heavily trafficked highway.
Injuries he suffered in the crash ultimately killed the 31-year-old.
In the West Goshen crash involving Tauscher, township police said D’Agostino was part of a flagging crew working on Pottstown Pike near Taylor’s Mill Road at 11:25 a.m. June 5. He was struck while standing on the northbound side of the road. Crews were directing traffic into a single lane around a construction area.
A witness told police that he saw D’Agostino on the hood of a 2014 Hyundai that had apparently struck him as it made its way through the site. He was thrown from the car, and suffered a broken arm and leg, a torn pelvis, and head trauma.
In an arrest affidavit filed in the case by West Goshen Officer Joseph Virgilio, Tauscher is quoted as saying he was texting with his boss at McDonalds about changing the menu board at the restaurant while he was driving. He said he was not aware that he had entered a construction zone and was not looking out his windshield when he struck D’Agostino. He stopped after the accident and spoke with officers who responded.
He is charged with aggravated assault by vehicle, recklessly endangering another person, prohibited text-based communications, failing to yield in construction zone, and driving without a license.
Source :
Men waive hearings in car crash cases