Driver who hit good Samaritan pleads to assault, DUI
A Drexel Hill man pleaded guilty Friday to charges of aggravated assault by vehicle and driving under the influence for striking a man who had stopped at an accident on Interstate 95 last year.
Donovan Stone, 23, of the 4400 block of State Road, entered open guilty pleas to both charges before Common Pleas Court Judge Dominic Pileggi and will be sentenced June 4.
Stone was arrested at the scene of the early morning crash in Tinicum Township on March 12, 2023, and was charged with aggravated assault by vehicle, DUI, possessing a small amount of marijuana, reckless endangerment and various traffic offenses.
The remaining charges were dismissed under the plea worked out by Assistant District Attorney Beth Ramos and defense counsel William Burrows.
According to information previously provided by Pennsylvania State Police:
Troopers were alerted about 1:04 a.m. that a vehicle had struck the safety attenuator barrier at northbound exit 9 and came to rest blocking the right lane.
The two occupants safely exited the vehicle to the right shoulder and were standing against the concrete median when Kafumba Kromah, 44, of Philadelphia, pulled up and steered onto the right shoulder to check on the occupants.
As Kromah was assisting, a 2016 Audi A6 driven northbound by Stone approached at a high rate of speed. Stone swerved to avoid the disabled car in the right lane and struck Kromah on the berm, throwing him into the air and onto the exit ramp.
The Audi then struck Kromah’s car before ending up disabled in the center lane.
Kromah was in and out of consciousness following the accident, state police said. He was transported to Crozer Chester Medical Center, where he was reportedly in stable condition the following day.
Stone was transported to Riddle Hospital for a blood draw and the Audi was transported to the Media station pending a search warrant. The occupants of the vehicle in the original crash were not injured, troopers said, and were not identified.
Stone has been free on $7,500 cash bail since March 24, according to online court records.
Ramos said Friday that the DUI charge was a first offense, combination of drugs and alcohol, and was an ungraded misdemeanor. The aggravated assault is a thirddegree felony.
Pileggi indicated the assault charge carries a maximum penalty of 84 months in prison, though the standard range is a county jail sentence of six to 12 months. The DUI requires a mandatory minimum of 72 hours and has a maximum of six months, he said.
Pileggi ordered a presentence investigation to help inform the sentence he would ultimately impose. Burrows said his client has already completed a drug and alcohol evaluation as part of his bail conditions.