Max
06-11-2003, 11:09 AM
Delaware man gets prison time for DUI crash
Carl Hessler Jr. , chessler@pottsmerc.com 06/11/2003
NORRISTOWN -- A Delaware man will spend up to three years in prison for driving drunk and causing a serious crash that severely injured his passenger friend on Route 422 in Lower Pottsgrove last year after a night of drinking at Boyertown area bars.
Vincent Jason Vecere, 23, of Millsboro, Del., was sentenced to 1½ to three years in state prison after pleading guilty in Montgomery County Court to charges of aggravated assault by a vehicle while driving under the influence of alcohol, DUI and driving under suspension in connection with the August 2002 crash.
Judge Thomas M. DelRicci recommended Vecere for the state prison system's motivational boot camp program. An alternative to prison, the boot camp is designed to instill discipline and structure in offenders' lives through regimented 16-hour days consisting of work and rehabilitative programs.
While the judge made the boot camp recommendation, state prison officials will have the final say about whether Vecere is admitted to the program.
In seeking a state prison sentence for Vecere, Assistant District Attorney Christopher Mullaney argued a message must be sent to the public that "drinking and driving is a deadly mix.
"This crime was preventable. The defendant demanded the keys and demanded to drive. But for his actions, this crime may not have happened," Mullaney said Tuesday.
Court documents indicate Lower Pottsgrove police responded to a report of an overturned vehicle on eastbound Route 422, near the Sanatoga exit, at 3 a.m. last Aug. 15. Upon arrival, police found that both occupants of the 1992 Saturn, Vecere and David Ortlip, had crawled from the vehicle on their own.
Vecere was found seated on the berm of the highway, and Ortlip was lying next to the vehicle on his stomach, according to court documents. Vecere told police and rescue personnel that he was the driver of the vehicle. Police also noticed Vecere had an odor of alcohol on his breath.
Both Vecere, who suffered a concussion, and Ortlip, who suffered a spinal cord injury, were flown by medical helicopter to area hospitals for treatment of their injuries, according to police records.
"Based upon physical evidence at the scene, it appeared that Vecere was traveling too fast and failed to properly negotiate a curve in the highway," Lower Pottsgrove Police Officer Ronald Frantz wrote in the criminal complaint.
An investigation revealed Vecere had a suspended driver's license, police said. Medical tests determined Vecere had a blood-alcohol content of 0.13 percent, which was more than the legal driving limit of 0.10 percent, according to the criminal complaint.
Despite Vecere's initial claim that he was the driver of the car, he changed his story when interviewed a day after the crash and told police Ortlip was the driver, according to court documents.
Vecere, according to the criminal complaint, further admitted that he had consumed two shots of liquor and four or five beers at bars in the Boyertown area and smoked a marijuana cigarette in the hours before the crash.
Ortlip was subsequently questioned by police at the Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Center in Malvern. Ortlip told police that he and Vecere had been drinking alcohol at bars in Boyertown and Gilbertsville shortly before the crash. At one point, Ortlip and Vecere argued about which of the two would drive home, according to Ortlip's statement to police. Ortlip claimed he initially drove but that Vecere kept insisting that he wanted to drive his own vehicle, police said.
"There was a point where Vecere became hostile and was grabbing for the keys out of the ignition," Frantz wrote in the criminal complaint, adding Ortlip pulled over and the two men switched positions. "Vecere was now behind the wheel.
"Ortlip stated Vecere started driving and lost control. That's the last thing he remembers."
Ortlip, who is still recovering from his injuries, appeared in court with the aid of a walker and pleaded for probation for Vecere. But Mullaney argued the suspended license and Vecere's demands to drive despite being drunk were aggravating factors that warranted a state prison sentence.
http://www.pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=8279322&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6
Carl Hessler Jr. , chessler@pottsmerc.com 06/11/2003
NORRISTOWN -- A Delaware man will spend up to three years in prison for driving drunk and causing a serious crash that severely injured his passenger friend on Route 422 in Lower Pottsgrove last year after a night of drinking at Boyertown area bars.
Vincent Jason Vecere, 23, of Millsboro, Del., was sentenced to 1½ to three years in state prison after pleading guilty in Montgomery County Court to charges of aggravated assault by a vehicle while driving under the influence of alcohol, DUI and driving under suspension in connection with the August 2002 crash.
Judge Thomas M. DelRicci recommended Vecere for the state prison system's motivational boot camp program. An alternative to prison, the boot camp is designed to instill discipline and structure in offenders' lives through regimented 16-hour days consisting of work and rehabilitative programs.
While the judge made the boot camp recommendation, state prison officials will have the final say about whether Vecere is admitted to the program.
In seeking a state prison sentence for Vecere, Assistant District Attorney Christopher Mullaney argued a message must be sent to the public that "drinking and driving is a deadly mix.
"This crime was preventable. The defendant demanded the keys and demanded to drive. But for his actions, this crime may not have happened," Mullaney said Tuesday.
Court documents indicate Lower Pottsgrove police responded to a report of an overturned vehicle on eastbound Route 422, near the Sanatoga exit, at 3 a.m. last Aug. 15. Upon arrival, police found that both occupants of the 1992 Saturn, Vecere and David Ortlip, had crawled from the vehicle on their own.
Vecere was found seated on the berm of the highway, and Ortlip was lying next to the vehicle on his stomach, according to court documents. Vecere told police and rescue personnel that he was the driver of the vehicle. Police also noticed Vecere had an odor of alcohol on his breath.
Both Vecere, who suffered a concussion, and Ortlip, who suffered a spinal cord injury, were flown by medical helicopter to area hospitals for treatment of their injuries, according to police records.
"Based upon physical evidence at the scene, it appeared that Vecere was traveling too fast and failed to properly negotiate a curve in the highway," Lower Pottsgrove Police Officer Ronald Frantz wrote in the criminal complaint.
An investigation revealed Vecere had a suspended driver's license, police said. Medical tests determined Vecere had a blood-alcohol content of 0.13 percent, which was more than the legal driving limit of 0.10 percent, according to the criminal complaint.
Despite Vecere's initial claim that he was the driver of the car, he changed his story when interviewed a day after the crash and told police Ortlip was the driver, according to court documents.
Vecere, according to the criminal complaint, further admitted that he had consumed two shots of liquor and four or five beers at bars in the Boyertown area and smoked a marijuana cigarette in the hours before the crash.
Ortlip was subsequently questioned by police at the Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Center in Malvern. Ortlip told police that he and Vecere had been drinking alcohol at bars in Boyertown and Gilbertsville shortly before the crash. At one point, Ortlip and Vecere argued about which of the two would drive home, according to Ortlip's statement to police. Ortlip claimed he initially drove but that Vecere kept insisting that he wanted to drive his own vehicle, police said.
"There was a point where Vecere became hostile and was grabbing for the keys out of the ignition," Frantz wrote in the criminal complaint, adding Ortlip pulled over and the two men switched positions. "Vecere was now behind the wheel.
"Ortlip stated Vecere started driving and lost control. That's the last thing he remembers."
Ortlip, who is still recovering from his injuries, appeared in court with the aid of a walker and pleaded for probation for Vecere. But Mullaney argued the suspended license and Vecere's demands to drive despite being drunk were aggravating factors that warranted a state prison sentence.
http://www.pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=8279322&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6