A photo from the Oct. 15, 2016 crash scene, showing damage to the vehicle that remained on scene.
A Lansdale woman is facing charges in connection with an October 2016 hit and run accident in Upper Gwynedd, in which investigators said the woman misrepresented her role in the crash.
Nikia Cromartie, 41, of the 300 block of South Line Street, has been charged with perjury, insurance fraud, theft by deception, criminal use of a communication facility and false swearing during official proceedings, in connection with a multi-year investigation by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.
According to the criminal complaint, Cromartie filed a claim with her insurance company on Oct. 18, 2016, stating that at 1 a.m. on Oct. 15, 2016, she was attempting to make a left from Dekalb Pike onto Hancock Road when an oncoming vehicle struck the passenger side of her black Infiniti and then fled the scene. The report states that both Cromartie and her passenger went to Lansdale Hospital for treatment of injuries, however she did not report that crash to police.
When a claims representative asked Cromartie why she did not call police, Cromartie replied that “she was told that police don’t come out for that stuff anymore,” according to the report.
Two years after the crash and her claim being processed, Cromartie filed a lawsuit against her insurance company seeking $50,000 for her injuries under the underinsured/uninsured motorist provisions in her policy, the report states. However, a claims investigator with the insurance company felt that there were inconsistencies in Cromartie’s account of the crash, and they reached out to the Upper Gwynedd Police Department to see if there were any hit and run crashes reported on the date of Cromartie’s crash, according to the complaint.
Investigators learned that police responded to a hit and run crash at the same intersection on the same date, but that crash occurred at 5 a.m. – four hours after the one reported by Cromartie, the report states. In that crash, a corrections officer said he was traveling to work on Dekalb Pike when a black Infiniti attempted to make a turn directly in front of him on Hancock Road, causing him to crash into the passenger side of the Infiniti, according to the report.
The Infiniti then fled the scene of the crash, while the corrections officer’s vehicle had to be towed from the scene, police said.
In August 2019, Cromartie was deposed as part of the lawsuit proceedings, the report states. Investigators noted that Cromartie made statements at the deposition that conflicted with her initial statements to the claims adjuster, and she also revealed previously unreported details, such as the driver of the striking vehicle being male, the report states.
In March 2020, an arbitration hearing was scheduled at the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, which included the corrections officer, the police officer who investigated the crash and an insurance investigator as witnesses, the report states. Despite the presence of her attorney — who sent transportation to Cromartie’s home for the hearing — Cromartie did not show up for the hearing.
Following the conclusion of their investigation, the Attorney General’s Office officially filed charges against Cromartie on April 14. She was subsequently taken into custody and arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Andrea Duffy, who set bail at $10,000 unsecured.
A review of court records indicates that Cromartie was awaiting proceedings on a misdemeanor reckless endangerment charge at the time of the October 2016 crash. She ultimately pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years’ probation, however she would go on to serve more than a year in county jail due to probation violations.
Since that time, she has pleaded guilty multiple times to misdemeanor DUI charges, receiving jail sentences each time, according to court records.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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