Montco Man Charged with Homicide by Vehicle in Crash that Killed Two People

Keith Heffintrayer | North Penn Now•

Brayan Gonzalez-Paez, 22, of Norristown.

A Montgomery County man has been charged with homicide by vehicle in connection with the Jan. 13 crash on Valley Forge Park Road in Upper Merion that killed 20-year-old Anjelica Amaya Briceno and her 3-year-old daughter.

The district attorney’s office announced the charges Wednesday morning against 22-year-old Brayan Gonzalez-Paez, of Norristown, which also include counts of accidents involving death while nor properly licensed and related offenses. Gonzalez-Paez is being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in lieu of $99,000 cash bail, along with a probation detainer.

The single-vehicle crash occurred just after 1 a.m. west of County Line Road in Upper Merion Township. Arriving police located a 2007 gray Toyota Yaris that had struck a tree, with Gonzalez-Paez and the child outside of the vehicle and Briceno unresponsive in the front passenger seat.

First responders began CPR on the child, who was then transported to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia facility in King of Prussia, where she was later pronounced dead. Briceno was extricated from the vehicle, and was subsequently pronounced dead on scene, police said.

Investigators said they estimated Gonzalez-Paez was traveling between 70 and 80 miles per hour at the time of the crash, then failed to negotiate a left curve in the roadway and drove off the road into a grassy area, at which point the vehicle began to spin before striking a tree on the passenger side of the vehicle. A post-crash inspection of the vehicle showed no mechanical issues that contributed to the crash, but it did show that the seatbelts in the front two seats and rear seats were connected behind the occupants to stop the vehicle’s warning chime from sounding, according to charging documents.

No child seat was found in the vehicle, police said.

Further investigation showed the Toyota was not registered to Gonzalez-Paez, it was not insured, and he did not have a license, according to police.

Gonzalez-Paez was arraigned on the charges on Tuesday, and his next court appearance is a preliminary hearing on Feb. 14 at 9:30 a.m. in front of Magisterial District Judge James Gallagher.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Caroline Goldstein. Attorney information for Gonzalez-Paez was not available at the time of publication.

All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.