Woman expected to plead guilty in Bryn Mawr hit-and-run

Suzanne K. Lammers, who was charged in a Main Line hit-and-run last year, is expected to plead guilty next month to one count of causing an accident with a serious injury, attorneys involved in the negotiations said Friday.

Lammers, 76, of Hepburn Drive in Villanova, is accused of hitting and critically injuring 13-year-old Andrew Mallee of Bryn Mawr last July.

Mallee was treated at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for head and leg injuries, then continued his recovery at home.

Mallee was riding his bike at noon July 15, 2009, on Bryn Mawr Avenue near New Gulph Road when he was struck by Lammers' gold 2002 Volvo station wagon, police said. Lammers drove home, and parked the car in her garage and covered it with a blue blanket.

Two weeks later, investigators, acting on a tip, found the vehicle, which had a large hole in the windshield.

Lammers told officers she thought she had hit a deer. She became frightened when she heard police sirens, she said, and drove away without waiting to see what had happened.

The agreement was that Lammers would plead guilty to one count of causing an accident with a serious injury, Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Anthony Gil said Friday.

She was also charged with leaving the scene of an accident, but that charge has been dropped.

Under state law, the penalty for the former charge is three months' incarceration, Gil said.

A Montgomery County Court judge must decide how the three months will be served.

"It's our position that she needs to go to jail," Gil said.

Philadelphia lawyer Frank DeSimone, who represents Lammers, confirmed that a plea agreement had been reached but emphasized that the plea was only "expected."

"You never know," he said. "She could change her mind."

Lammers is to enter her plea at a July 6 hearing in Norristown. The sides will then debate whether Lammers should serve her time in jail or on house arrest.

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