DUI driver who crashed with girl aboard gets prison
MEDIA COURTHOUSE » A Drexel Hill man who drunkenly stole and crashed a car with a young girl in the back seat was sentenced to 30 to 84 months in a state prison Tuesday.
Erich Siedzikowski was also ordered to pay $4,000 in fines and restitution, and serve two years of consecutive probation under the sentence handed down by Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Cappelli.
Siedzikowski, 50, of the 700 block of Burmont Road, pleaded guilty in February to driving under the influence as a fourth offense, two counts of recklessly endangering another person, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and driving with blood alcohol level above 0.02 while his license was suspended.
The incident occurred Oct. 28, when Siedzikowski approached a running 2009 Hyundai Sante Fe with two occupants – a 6-yearold girl and her older cousin – and told them the car was double parked, according to an affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
The driver had double-parked out front of his apartment on the 4200 block of Woodland Avenue and gone inside to use the bathroom, according to the affidavit. The car was left running.
Siedzikowski reportedly demanded $20 from the vehicle’s occupants or said he would have the car towed. Siedzikowski then got behind the wheel and drove the Hyundai around the corner, where he crashed into a pole. Siedzikowski then exited the vehicle and walked away, according to the affidavit.
Responding officers made contact with Siedzikowski exiting a Citgo gas station at 709 Burmont Road. The affidavit indicates Siedzikowski had red, glassy eyes, a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and was unsteady on his feet. He was taken into custody after failing a field sobriety test.
Assistant District Attorney Brian Doherty noted Tuesday that Siedzikowksi has a “long, numerous and varied” criminal history going back to 1987, which includes convictions for assault, arson, receiving stolen property and three prior DUIs.
The child’s mother told the judge Tuesday that Siedzikowski’s actions had shocked the young girl. She said the incident came shortly after their apartment burned down and they were trying to return to some place of normalcy.
Before Siedzikowski took the car, the mother said her daughter wanted to be a police officer, but now does not think she is brave enough to deal with bad guys. The woman was grateful that Siedzikowski’s escapade did not go further, however, which could have put her child and others at even greater risk.
Siedzikowski offered his apologies, but claimed that he did not realize there was a small child in the back and that he “pulled over” as soon as he learned the girl was there, then waited for police.
Doherty noted the car was crashed and that Siedzikowski refused to provide a blood sample after being taken into custody. The affidavit indicates he also threatened one of the arresting officers. After Siedzikowski asked if he would be in jail for two years, Officer Frank Devine responded that he did not know.
“I can wait two years to come after you,” Siedzikowski allegedly responded.
Defense attorney Matt Sprauge noted that his client does have a criminal history, but argued he had been compliant with his most recent DUI in 2013 before this incident, which was brought about by a relapse following a personal tragedy. He also pointed out that there were significant gaps between Siedzikowski’s prior offenses and said those were also due to relapses.
Sprauge added Siedzikowski has gone through three programs since his incarceration last year and said the sentence should focus on treatment. He was seeking something in the range of 24 to 30 months.
The case was reminiscent of another car theft early last year, in which 21-year-old Dillon M. Valenti stole a running 2016 Honda CRV from the Sproul Plaza shopping center with a 1-year-old child in the back. Valenti abandoned the vehicle after noticing the child and she was found unharmed, still secured in her seat, on nearby Langford Road.
Cappelli said Tuesday that he struggles with sentences involving DUIs because he never knows if the defendant will later get back behind the wheel of an automobile while drunk, potentially putting the community at risk.
“It may be that you get out of prison and you never drink again, or it may be that you get out of prison and you never drive again,” Cappelli said. “I don’t know what the story is going to be. Only you are in control of that behavior, in control of the direction you go in from here.”
Siedzikowski was additionally sentenced to two concurrent 1236 month sentences for violating his probation on two prior cases. Doherty had asked that at least one of those sentences run consecutively, though Sprague noted Siedzikowski will already be under supervision for approximately nine years under the newest charges.