Family distraught over plea deal in '15 fatal crash

Andrew Miller was working late at the Pennsylvania Convention Center last Oct. 27, so by the time he took a SEPTA train to the Torresdale station in Northeast Philadelphia, he missed the last shuttle bus to the Salem Harbour Apartments, just across the border in Bensalem, where he lived.

It would have taken the 29-year-old, previously of Northeast Philadelphia, about seven minutes to walk to his apartment.

But that night, after the sun had set, at about 7:15 p.m., Miller was walking on the northbound shoulder of State Road when an SUV, driven by a Northeast Philadelphia woman, hit and killed him.

His body wasn't discovered until about 8 a.m. the next day by a passing motorist.

Under a plea deal, the driver of the SUV - Jennifer Coyle, 32, of the 3800 block of Fairdale Road - is to get a probationary sentence in Miller's death.

"This is not punishment," said Michael Hug, a close friend of Miller's family, who was asked to speak on the family's behalf. "It's horrible. Nobody feels this probation is substantial or any punishment."

Prosecutors will drop a second-degree felony charge of leaving the scene of a fatal accident, which would have carried a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison under "Kevin's Law," signed in 2014 and named after a 5-year-old Luzerne County boy killed by a hit-and-run driver in 2012.

At a Nov. 9 court hearing in Doylestown, Coyle is expected to plead no contest to charges of involuntary manslaughter and DUI-general impairment, both misdemeanors.

She is to be sentenced to five years' probation, which could be reduced to three years if she finishes a term of community service, pays her court costs and restitution, and does not get in trouble, Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Long said.

The deal, negotiated by the Bucks County District Attorney's Office and Coyle's attorney, has left Miller's family distraught.

Coyle left "Andrew by the side of the road like roadkill," Hug, 67, of Fairless Hills, Bucks County, said last month. "She left the scene of an accident and left the body there."

"Why didn't she call [the police]"? Hug said. "As the family speculated all along, she was drinking and driving."

A tragedy

Coyle went to the Bensalem Police Department the day after the crash, following news reports about the discovery of Miller's body.

A respiratory therapist, Coyle told police she had attended a work conference in Center City Philadelphia the previous day, then went with friends and coworkers to MilkBoy, at 11th and Chestnut Streets, where she had three 12-ounce cans of Schmidt's beer and three shots of whiskey.

She left the bar at about 6:15 p.m. to catch a train to the Torresdale station, arriving at about 7:15 p.m., court documents say.

She got into her 2013 Ford Edge SUV and started heading home, crossing into Bensalem as she headed north on State Road.

She didn't travel far before she hit Miller, just south of the Mill Road intersection.

At that time, Miller, who was employed by SMG and worked as a labor services manager at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City Philadelphia, was walking on the shoulder of State Road.

He had also taken a train from Center City Philadelphia to the Torresdale stop. He had missed the last shuttle bus, the 6:22 p.m., operated by the Salem Harbour Apartments.

According to police reports, while Coyle was driving north on State Road, she "looked down and swerved off of the roadway." When she looked up, she "saw a dark figure hit her car."

Bensalem police estimated she was driving at about 30 to 45 mph when she hit Miller from behind. The impact threw Miller up off the ground. His head struck the base of the windshield before he fell to the ground.

Coyle slowed down, turned around, stopped her SUV on the shoulder of the road, then called her husband, who came to the scene that night, according to the police affidavit of probable cause.

She "looked for the dark figure that she hit but she could not find anything," the document says. Coyle "observed damage to her vehicle including a headlight that was caved in and a broken windshield. She also observed black hair in the damage to the windshield. The defendant went home and never dialed 9-1-1 or contacted any police department after the crash."

Coyle's attorney, Louis Busico, said that Coyle has always maintained she didn't know what she struck that night and that she stopped her vehicle.

He said that after Coyle and her husband did not find anything on State Road that night, her husband drove her home, then returned to the scene with his father-in-law. The two men searched around with a flashlight and didn't see anything, Busico said.

The next morning, after dropping her two children off at school, Coyle returned to the scene and saw police activity there, Busico said. She returned home and saw news reports online about the fatality and realized "she may have been involved in something," Busico said. "That's when she goes to the police station."

"She was absolutely distraught and overwhelmed with emotion," he said.

He said Coyle "consented to a search of her phone as well as an analysis of her blood."

Long, in an earlier interview, said investigators, in piecing together what Coyle did before the crash, learned she had been at a bar. But because her blood-alcohol level wasn't tested until 19 hours after the crash, there was "nothing in her system."

"This was a tough case," the prosecutor said.

"It's one we went back and forth on," he said.

"You have a number of duties when you are involved in a crash," he said. "One is to call the police or authorities. She did go back, then she left the scene. Our contention is she should have called the police."

In the end, Long said, his office decided "the best course of action" would be the plea deal, which would be a "guaranteed" resolution rather than risking the chance of a jury possibly acquitting Coyle of all charges and "her walking away with nothing."

If the case were taken to trial, he said, Coyle would have "certain defenses available to her."

"By no means is it perfect," he said of the deal. "I understand these cases are heartbreaking and are difficult."

Long said the fact that Coyle had no prior arrests "might have been a small factor" behind the deal.

But to Miller's family, it wouldn't be justice.

"It'd be unfortunate to see this girl get away with a crime," Hug said.

Miller's parents, Janice Tillmann and Frank Miller, of Northeast Philadelphia, have been too traumatized to talk about their son's death.

Hug said the family wants the DA's Office to take Coyle to trial and for her to face jail time.

"Nobody wants to hear about losing in court," he said. "Try. Maybe justice will prevail. If you give up and give her a slap on the wrist, how will that be the correct punishment?"

shawj@phillynews.com

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