Credit Tim Gouw / Unsplash.com
Three teens in a stolen vehicle caused an accident that flipped both cars involved and took the life of one of them, a 15-year-old male during a late-July accident, resulting in police charging the driver with Homicide by Vehicle.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Springfield Township Police Chief Michael E. Pitkow announced the arrest of the driver on Aug. 30, stemming from the incident.
Asiyah Sara Mowatt-Mays, 18, of the unit block of West Durham Street in Philadelphia, initially told police she was a rear-seat passenger of a red, 2020 Hyundai Elantra, when it struck a white 2014 Infiniti QX80 July 29 as they responded to a two-vehicle accident at the intersection of Stenton and Evergreen avenues in the Wyndmoor section of Springfield Township around 4:51 a.m., reports stated.
Responding officers said that, upon arrival, a male driver was stuck in the Infiniti, requiring the fire department to extract him via mechanical means. The two cars were both found on their sides, the Infiniti on its left and Hyundai on its right, after coming to uncontrolled rest, with each off the roadway having sustained severe damage, reports stated. Police said that the vehicles both had headlights on and that loud music was still coming from the Hyundai.
Police said that, upon arrival, the Hyundai was unoccupied, but that they’d observed Mowatt-Mays walking around the scene of the accident with “severe facial injuries and blood on her clothing.” Two more teens were found, unconscious, on a nearby sidewalk, one a 14-year-old male along Stenton Avenue and another a 15-year-old male near the curb of Evergreen Avenue, said reports. Both, police said, were ejected from the Hyundai upon impact. The 15-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene, while the 14-year-old juvenile was taken to Einstein Hospital for medical evaluation.
Mowatt-Mays, who had blood on her clothing and severe facial injuries, was ordered to sit down, as emergency responders tended to blood coming from her head and chest, reports said.
Review of the vehicles’ license plates led to a discovery by police that the red Hyundai was reported as stolen just two days before on July 27 at 5:06 a.m. from the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, said reports.
Mowatt-Mays was taken to Einstein, as well, and later transferred to Wills Eye for evaluation of injuries to her right eye, police said. The 14-year-old was later transferred to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Main Campus with life-threatening injuries, said reports.
Police reviewed body cam footage, per reports, and said that, while at the hospital, Mowatt-Mays said that one of the younger teens was driving at the time of the accident. Mowatt-Mays told police she was in the back seat, they said.
According to reports, detectives received consent to retrieve downloads from each car via a Crash Data Record device, which determined the Infiniti was traveling at 60 mph in a 40-mph zone on Stenton Avenue prior to the crash. The teens were traveling 47 mph in a 25-mph zone, just five seconds prior to the crash, according to reports. The investigation also determined, according to police, that the teens were not wearing seat belts at the time of the accident.
Detectives determined that a black, Adidas Yeezy sneaker was under the brake pedal of the Hyundai, reports stated. The seat was also very close to the steering wheel, police said, with the back in an upright position. Mowatt-Mays, police said, was only 5 feet tall, while both teen boys were over 5’7” in height, meaning the likely driver was Mowatt-Mays.
Post-crash inspections determined that a small section of the windshield of the Hyundai contained blood evidence, which police matched with Mowatt-Mays’s sample via preliminary DNA testing, reports stated. The samples, police added, were sent to the Pennsylvania State Police for additional analysis and confirmation.
An autopsy of the 15-year-old male pronounced dead at the scene revealed the cause of death to be “multiple injuries” and that the manner of death was an accident, according to Montgomery County Forensic Pathologist Dr. Ian Hood, who conducted the autopsy.
No mechanical defects were found upon examination of the Hyundai that would have contributed to the crash, said police. The owner and driver of the Infiniti told police that he was on his way to work as a SEPTA driver when the crash occurred. He said, according to reports, that he had a steady green light approaching the intersection as he traveled northbound on Stenton Avenue. He said he did not see the Hyundai until the last minute because “the other vehicle did not have its headlamps on.” He said that the Hyundai came from Evergreen Avenue, heading east, at a fast rate, according to the reports.
A witness to the accident told police that he was about 200 yards away when the impact occurred, said reports. He stated that he saw the vehicles “rolling and sliding off the roadway,” and noted that the light was green for Stenton traffic, police said. Upon exiting his vehicle and calling 911, the wintess told police he attempted to assist the Infiniti driver, but was unsuccessful, said reports. Police said the witness told them that he was tending to Mowatt-Mays, as she “kept repeating ‘I didn’t see him coming. I didn’t see him coming.’”
An interview with the 14-year-old, with his mother present, while still in CHOP, resulted in him telling police he was in the back of the car alone, while Mowatt-Mays was driving the stolen car, reports said. He also said that he and the 15-year-old deceased male were “hanging out of the windows” at the time of the crash.
A crash investigation concluded that Mowatt-Mays, while driving 47 mph northbound on East Evergreen failed to stop at a steady red signal while operating a stolen vehicle, then striking the Infiniti, said reports. The Infinity was traveling at 60 mph, while traveling east on Stenton. No occupants in either vehicle were wearing seatbelts, police said.
Police said that Mowatt-Mays’ injuries were “consistent with an unrestrained driver/occupant of a vehicle, striking a windshield. The location of blood samples, reports stated, confirmed Mowatt-Mays as the driver.
“The force of the impact caused Mowatt-Mays, the unrestrained driver, to leave the driver’s seat and strike and push the center console gear shifter to the right, due to her size, before striking her head on the windshield of the passenger’s side of the vehicle,” said the crash investigation report. “Mowatt-Mays was thrown backwards, breaking the passenger seat and into the back seat until she crawled out of the shattered back window.”
The deceased 15-year-old boy was believed to be in the front passenger seat of the vehicle, ejected as he was hanging out of the window, said the reports. His airbag did not deploy, police said, as he was not “sitting in the seat” when he was ejected.
Police said the 14-year-old boy was the left, rear passenger in the stolen car. He was also reported to be hanging out the window when ejected, thrown west from the vehicle, landing in the grass and sliding to a resting position on the sidewalk. He was unconscious upon police arrival, said reports.
As a result of their investigation, police said that Mowatt-Mays was driving a stolen vehicle and proceeded to drive in a reckless manner, failed to drive at safe speeds, and failed to stop for a red signal, all of which were actions that resulted in the death of one boy, and the serious bodily injury of another.
Mowatt-Mays is charged with felony counts of Homicide by Vehicle and Aggravated Assault by Vehicle, as well as lesser charges of reckless driving, driving a vehicle at a safe speed, traffic control signals/steady red indication, receiving stolen property, and unauthorized use of an automobile.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 10 before Magisterial District Judge Kate McGill.
A criminal complaint was previously filed for Mowatt-Mays on June 23 for a felony charge of Receiving Stolen Property stemming from a separate, unrelated incident, according to court documents.
