Frankford hit-run driver held for vehicular homicide

A MAN ACCUSED in a hit-and-run accident last month that resulted in a bicyclist's death was held for trial yesterday.

Raymond Wands, 38, allegedly struck Julio Torres while behind the wheel of a Ford F-150 truck on Erie Avenue heading toward D Street on June 22. Torres, 55, of Hunting Park, died of head injuries two days later.

Wands faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, homicide by vehicle, and accident involving death or personal injury. A DUI and related homicide charge were dropped due to lack of evidence.

"We don't have smell, eyes, even his face," Judge James M. DeLeon said when questioning the lack of physical evidence pointing to a DUI. "We just have him being fidgety."

During yesterday's preliminary hearing, Assistant District Attorney Thomas Lipscomb called Amir Mashaqbeh, who testified he had been driving behind the defendant on Erie Avenue headed to a mosque for nighttime Ramadan prayer.

"He was like moving too much," Mashaqbeh said, when he approached Wands after the accident. "I drove an ice-cream truck for 10 years, so I've seen a lot of people."

Mashaqbeh testified that he thought Wands was under the influence of something, but that he was standing too far away to smell anything.

Mashaqbeh said that Torres was driving a bike in the lane to his right side, but heading toward traffic rather than driving with the traffic.

After the collision, he said, Wands stopped and got out. "When he see the guy laying on the floor, he got back in the truck," Mashaqbeh said.

Wands then pulled into a nearby parking lot and told Mashaqbeh that he would not leave the scene.

Mashaqbeh returned to the victim and had called police, but said Torres "wasn't moving nothing" and that he was "bleeding from the mouth and nose."

When Mashaqbeh returned to the parking lot later, he said, Wands had fled, leaving his truck behind.

Wands surrendered to authorities a week later when a warrant was issued for his arrest.

He is being held in a correctional facility, and an arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 19.