Man faces charges in motorcyclist crash death
Victim was Hatfield man
A Norristown man awaiting trial for his alleged role in the 2018 overdose death of an Upper Merion man faces new charges he ran from the scene of a two-vehicle crash in the borough that killed a Hatfield motorcyclist.
Marquese Haasan Gaines, 28, of the unit block of East Elm Street, was charged after his DNA was found on the driver’s side headrest of the vehicle involved in the fatal crash.
Gaines was arraigned on Thursday before District Court Judge Scott Palladino on charges of accidents involving death while not properly licensed, failure to stop and render aid, failure to notify police and driving without a li- cense in connection with the alleged Aug. 30, 2019, two-vehicle crash that killed Timothy Manning Jr., 35, of Hatfield.
Gaines, who was held in jail in lieu of $100,000 cash bail, faces a preliminary hearing on the new charges March 4 before District Court Judge Gregory Scott in Norristown.
With the charges, detectives alleged Gaines was operating a 2013 silver Infinity G37 sedan and collided with a 2003 Yamaha dirt bike operated by Manning at the corner of East Airy and Violet streets. Gaines, who previously lived in Philadelphia, allegedly fled the scene on foot after the 9:09 p.m. crash but detectives used DNA recovered from the interior of the Infinity to link Gaines to the crash, according to court papers.
At the time of the crash, there was an outstanding arrest warrant for Gaines, issued March 25, 2019, and authorities had been searching for him for his alleged role in the Dec. 27, 2018, overdose death of Daniel Marinari, 53, whose body was discovered in the basement of a home in the
700 block of Hidden Valley Road in Upper Merion. With those charges, authorities alleged Gaines and two accomplices supplied the fentanyl and heroin that led to Marinari’s death.
The crash investigation began when Norristown police responded to the intersection and found Manning, suffering from multiple trauma and lifethreatening injuries, on the roadway near his “motocross-type vehicle.” Police found the second vehicle, the Infinity sedan, unoccupied and determined the driver had fled on foot, according to the criminal complaint filed by Montgomery County Detective David Schanes and Norristown Detective David Mazza.
Manning was airlifted to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia for emergency surgery and was pronounced dead at 2:44 a.m. Aug. 31, court documents indicate. An autopsy determined Manning died from blunt impact trauma of the torso.
Investigators obtained surveillance video from street cameras in the area.
Detectives determined Manning’s cycle was traveling west on East Airy Street at an unknown speed and with no lights and the Infinity sedan, ultimately determined to be operated by Gaines, was traveling southbound on Violet Street.
“The car pulled out into the path of the motorcycle. The rider of the motorcycle applied his brake and then laid the motorcycle down on its side,” Schanes and Mazza alleged in the arrest affidavit. “The motorcycle struck the left front bumper area of the car. The driver of the car then exited his car and fled from the car on foot.”
Investigators determined
the Infinity sedan was owned by a Norristown woman, who told police she allowed Gaines to use her car on Aug. 30 in exchange for crack cocaine, according to the criminal complaint. The woman told detectives Gaines later called her to tell her that he had been in an accident and instructed her to report the car stolen, according to court documents.
Gaines allegedly told the woman that after the crash he got out of the car and walked over to Manning, who he described as “taking real deep breaths, like he was hurt real bad.”
The vehicle’s owner told detectives Gaines told her that he ran because “he was dirty, he had a bunch of drugs on him, he also ran because he knew he was wanted for a fentanyl case in Montgomery County,” according to the arrest affidavit.
A confidential source subsequently provided additional information to detectives identifying Gaines as the driver of the vehicle, according to court papers.
Detectives also collected DNA samples from the interior of the Infinity sedan, specifically from the driver’s side airbags, the steering wheel, the driver’s side headrest, a Red Bull container on the driver’s side floor and a plastic lid and straw from a fast food cup in a cup holder, according to the criminal complaint.
A forensic analysis determined Gaines could not be eliminated as the source of the DNA found on the headrest, according to the arrest affidavit. Gaines’s DNA also was found on the straw, lid and Red Bull can, detectives alleged.
Court papers indicate Gaines was taken into custody on Sept. 25, 2019, and initially charged with drug delivery resulting in death in connection with Marinari’s overdose and he has been held at the county jail since that time in lieu of $1 million bail.