Reading man gets prison in Trappe crash
NORRISTOWN >> A Reading man was sent to prison after he admitted to driving under suspension and causing a crash in Trappe that seriously injured his female passenger whom he had just met hours earlier at a bar.
Joseph John Thomas, 30, of the 900 block of Pear Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 14-to-36-months in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to charges of accidents involving death or personal injury while not properly licensed and driving under suspension in connection with a March 4, 2018, one-vehicle crash in Trappe.
Judge Richard P. Haaz also ordered Thomas to complete three years’ probation following parole, meaning Thomas will be under court supervision for about six years. The judge ordered Thomas to have no contact with the woman who was injured in the crash.
The crash occurred about 7 a.m. at Main Street and First Avenue in Trappe. State police troopers from the Skippack barracks arrived at the scene to find a Ford Explorer “with severe front-end damage.”
“There was significant crush damage to the utility pole located at the intersection and a large amount of debris consistent with a high speed crash between the vehicle and the utility pole…,” state police Trooper Ryan Tierney alleged in the arrest affidavit.
Troopers found Thomas seated on a bench outside the vehicle and a female trapped in the passenger seat of the vehicle, according to the criminal complaint.
“The female was trapped inside the vehicle and seemingly unconscious with visible lacerations to numerous areas of her body, including her chest and head,” Tierney alleged.
Thomas, who did not suffer any serious injuries but reported being “shaken up,” admitted at the scene that he was the driver of the vehicle and that his license was suspended. Thomas claimed he was driving on First Avenue approaching a posted stop sign at Main Street when he “must have passed out” at the wheel. Thomas said he awakened as a result of the crash.
“Thomas was unable to identify the female in the vehicle and related that they had just met the night prior at a bar,” Tierney alleged.
The woman was extricated from the vehicle and airlifted to Penn Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia where she underwent open heart surgery for a heart laceration, police said. The woman also suffered a dislocated hip, a dislocated knee, a fractured jaw, a bladder laceration and lacerations to her forehead and scalp, police said.
“(The woman) is also using a walker due to inability to utilize her right leg,” Tierney wrote in the criminal complaint.
The woman told police she met Thomas at a bar the night before and that they were “driving around trying to find a place to stay,” according to court papers. The woman said Thomas was driving “extremely fast.”
“(The woman) related that after an extended period of time, she offered to drive in case Thomas was tired but Thomas would not allow her to drive,” Tierney alleged. “(The woman) related that the last thing she remembered before the crash was Thomas going at a high rate of speed through back roads.”