A West Virginia dump truck driver originally charged with homicide by vehicle in the August head-on collision death of Kellie Adams, 31, the daughter of longtime Lansdale Borough Police Sergeant and former Towamencin Fire Chief Dean Miller, had his charges this week upgraded to third-degree murder of Adams and third-degree murder of an unborn child, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele.
Everett James Clayton, 56, of Kanawha Boulevard in Charleston, W. Va., will not only have to answer for the death of Adams in the South Park Avenue crash in Lower Providence Township, but also that of her unborn daughter, Emersyn Grace Adams, who was delivered stillborn after the Aug. 25 crash, police said. Adams was pronounced dead at the scene and Emersyn was two months away from her due date.
Clayton was uninjured, police said.
“In every fatal crash Homicide by Vehicle case, we keep investigating even after the initial arrest. In this case, we were able to find evidence that showed the defendant’s actions exhibited sustained recklessness over a period of time leading up to the fatal crash,” said Steele in a press release. “That is the standard for Third-Degree Murder, and the new charges were added.”
All in all, Clayton, who has been at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility on $500,000 cash bail since his arrest in early November, is charged with 17 offenses. He was arraigned on the new charges on Tuesday by Magisterial District Judge Maureen Coggins, who set bail at $500,000 cash. At a bail review hearing on Thursday,
Court of Common Pleas Judge Henry S. Hilles III previously kept bail at $500,000 cash upon review and added a no driving condition should the defendant make bail.
In addition to the two felony third-degree murder and felony homicide by vehicle charges, Clayton is also charged with summary offenses of careless driving causing unintentional death, careless driving, reckless driving, failure to drive on right side of roadway, disregarding a traffic lane, driving an unregistered vehicle, driving a vehicle without valid inspection, driving a vehicle with a hazardous brake system, possessing alcohol while on duty and driving a vehicle, driving a vehicle with a detectable amount of alcohol within four hours of operation, speeding, and driving a vehicle without a current medical examiner’s certificate stating he was physically qualified to drive a dump truck, police said.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11:30 a.m., Jan. 17, 2023, before Magisterial District Judge Cathleen Kelly Rebar. The case will be prosecuted by First Assistant District Attorney Edward F. McCann Jr. and Assistant District Attorney Gabrielle Hughes.
An autopsy of Adams and her unborn daughter found that Adams died of blunt force injuries and Emersyn Grace died of traumatic uterine rupture due to blunt impact injuries, police said.
First responders were dispatched to the 500 block of South Park Avenue at 3 p.m. on Aug. 25 for a report of a two-vehicle crash. Arriving police found a head-on crash had occurred between a 2021 Chevy Tahoe, driven by Adams, and a 2003 Ford F650 XLT Super Duty dump truck, driven by Clayton.
Clayton allegedly confessed he had been drinking beers, and blood testing later showed he had a blood-alcohol content of .076% — just under the legal limit of .08%, investigators said. They allege when they arrived on scene Clayton, who climbed out the passenger side of his overturned truck cab, was holding a six-pack of beer, according to the complaint.
According to the criminal complaint, crash scene investigators determined Clayton was traveling in excess of the speed limit as he approached a curve in the road, causing him to lose control and cross over the double-yellow lines. The dump truck collided with the Tahoe with such force that the Tahoe lost all forward momentum and displaced the SUV fully off the road into a field, and the dump-body portion of the truck detached and fell off, police said.
Police allege Clayton was speeding between 58 and 62 mph into the curve.
The owner of the truck was also charged with homicide by vehicle in the crash — Patrick Hadley Doran aka Jacob Fury, 23, of Gaithersburg, Md., police said. Doran also faces charges of permitting violation of title, operating vehicle without required financial responsibility, operating vehicle without valid inspection, and multiple other offenses, police said.
Investigators said Doran had purchased the vehicle on July 6 under a fake name and never had the vehicle registered, inspected, or insured as required by state law. Additionally, the truck was being operated by “Stellar Paving and Drainage” with a listed address as 1960 Butler Pike in Conshohocken, which actually turned out to be a PO Box at a UPS store that was also rented by Doran under the same fake name, according to charging documents.
“This dump truck was being operated in an unsafe manner by the driver Everett Clayton, which caused the dump truck to cross the center line and crash head on to the Chevrolet Tahoe, killing Kellie Adams and her baby Emersyn. Beyond the driver’s direct action that caused the homicide, the owner allowed this truck to be on the road even though he knew it didn’t even meet basic requirements for legal operation. The dump truck should never have been on the road where it became a lethal weapon,” said Steele in a press release in October. “The deaths of this beloved young mother and her baby have caused so much heartache for the family and the community. We are saddened by their loss and have charged as the law has allowed.”
North Penn Now would like to extend our deepest condolences to the Dean and Adams families as they cope with this unimaginable tragedy. We will keep you all in our thoughts.
See also:
Dump Truck Driver, Owner Charged in Death of Pregnant Lansdale Woman
Lansdale Woman ID’d as Victim of Fatal Crash in Lower Providence
