Driver who crashed with Philly firefighter sentenced to 30-60 days in jail
Teddy Wilson was involved in a vehicle crash with an off-duty firefighter, but it wasn't clear who caused the accident.
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A 55-YEAR-OLD MAN who was involved in an accident that killed an off-duty Philadelphia firefighter was sentenced yesterday to 30 to 60 days in county jail.
Teddy Wilson had been convicted of DUI by Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner, and acquitted of homicide by vehicle and involuntary manslaughter.
"This was a very, very difficult case to try," the judge said yesterday. After reviewing witness accounts, "I am absolutely convinced in a system where the commonwealth bears the burden . . . there was absolutely no way any fair fact finder could determine . . . who was responsible for this accident."
It was about 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 28, 2010, when Wilson, driving a pickup truck, and off-duty firefighter Odell Pommells Jr., 33, riding a 2002 Suzuki motorcycle, crashed at Lancaster and Wyalusing avenues in West Philadelphia.
Assistant District Attorney Thomas Lipscomb said after the sentencing that Pommells flew off his motorcycle after the crash and hit a pole. Pommells, assigned to Engine 5 in West Philly, was on his way home to West Oak Lane at the time. He was pronounced dead at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania that night.
Wilson, who was tested about 3 1/2 hours after the crash, had a blood-alcohol content level of 0.11. The legal limit is .08.
Defense attorney Daniel Paul Alva suggested in court that alcohol played no role in the accident. Wilson "was not weaving, driving erratically," he said.
The lawyer said Wilson, of Wilmington, Del., had sat in his office and sobbed over Pommells' death and shown "remorse like I had never seen."
This was Wilson's second DUI conviction. The judge made clear that Wilson was being sentenced as a second-time drunken driver and not for any charges relating to Pommells' death since he was acquitted of those charges.
The judge also said Wilson will face a 12-month license suspension and will have to complete a safe-driving program. Alva said Wilson will lose his job as a trash-truck driver in Delaware because of the license suspension.