S. Phila man gets 7-14 years in death of St. Louis fan

A South Philadelphia man was sentenced today to 7 to 14 years in prison for running down two visiting baseball fans from St. Louis, killing one and seriously injuring the other outside Citizens Bank Park.

Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner compared Joseph Genovese's handling of his red Lexus on July 10, 2008 to "firing a gun into a crowd."

"This was no accident, to get yourself so completely blasted so you are totally unfit to operate a motor vehicle," Lerner told Genovese.

Genovese, 20, pleaded guilty in February to vehicular homicide and vehicular aggravated assault while intoxicated for killing Cindy Grassi, 53, and injuring Sandra Wacker, then 36.

Wacker, who suffered a traumatic brain injury and a broken leg, spent months in recovery.

Genovese, a gaunt man in a black suit, apologized to the families of Grassi and Wacker and admitted that he was under the influence of marijuana when he struck the two women.

"This shows me how dangerous a vehicle is and that it could have happened to anyone," Genovese said.

But Lerner cited a string of seven previous arrests Genovese's admission to smoking marijuana after he was freed on bail and awaiting trial.

"You didn't belong on the streets of Philadelphia with or without a car," said Lerner, who doubled the amount of Genovese's mandatory minimun sentence by consecutively running the charges involving each victim.

The two women from Missouri, longtime friends and fellow elementary schoolteachers, were crossing Broad Street when a Genovese, stopped at a red light in post-game traffic, drove around two stopped cars, ran a red light and crashed into them.