Ephrata man gets prison for Philadelphia hit-and-run

After listening almost an hour to tearful speeches and apologies by and for Nicholas Hasselback, Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Harold M. Kane could not get past one piece of evidence: a backpack containing broken glass from a car windshield.

"You know what bothers me the most? Sweeping up the glass," Kane told Hasselback, owner of the backpack. "Taking off and running away. How did that glass get swept up?"

With that, the judge on Monday sentenced the 23-year-old Hasselback, of Ephrata, Lancaster County, to three to six years in prison for the April 11 hit-and-run that critically injured Temple University law student Tony Foltz.

Assistant District Attorney Lynne O'Brien alleged that Hasselback swept the windshield glass into his backpack in an effort to clean up his white Subaru after hitting Foltz, 25, on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and driving away.

Arguing for leniency, defense attorney Thomas K. Schindler said there was no proof Hasselback swept up the glass. The backpack was open, he said, and glass landed inside when the windshield shattered.

Kane, however, said the backpack outweighed any evidence mitigating a lesser sentence. "We're talking about . . . a reckless indifference to the value of human life," he said.

Although rejecting Schindler's request for a six- to 23-month sentence followed by probation, the judge did allow Hasselback to begin his term after the holidays.

"You surrender Jan. 3 in this courtroom," Kane told him. ". . . If you don't come in that day, I'll hammer you."

The sentence left Hasselback's family stunned and weeping. It includes seven years' probation when he gets out and $2,738 restitution to Foltz's family for incidental medical expenses.

Hasselback was a Temple senior majoring in anthropology and economics. He withdrew after his arrest.

Before sentencing, Hasselback turned to face Foltz, 25, and apologized: "The emotions I feel, how sorry I am, I cannot put into words."

Foltz suffered severe head injuries and a broken arm and leg, was hospitalized 28 days in intensive care - much of it in a coma - had five major surgeries, and spent months more in rehab.

After moving unsteadily to the stand, he detailed his agonizing recovery and spoke of the need for more surgery to restore movement to his right arm.

"I try not to be bitter or hateful," added Foltz, who has returned to Temple to complete his law degree.

Foltz had been walking north on 22d Street about 2 a.m. on April 11 when he was hit by a white Subaru heading west on the parkway. The driver did not stop. An anonymous tip led police the next day to the car - windshield shattered, Foltz's blood and hair on the glass - at Hasselback's East Falls apartment.

Hasselback, however, had abandoned the car and gone to his parents' Ephrata home. He surrendered April 14 and pleaded guilty Oct. 1 to aggravated assault and leaving the scene of an accident.

"There's no happiness here," Foltz's father, Richard W. Foltz, a partner in the Pepper Hamilton law firm in Center City, said after the sentencing. "I thank the D.A. and the judge for doing their job. We feel like justice was done."