Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Delco man pleads no contest in hit-run death of disabled homeless vet

Elaine Heyl, 37, an Air Force veteran who served in Iraq, was well-known among the street people at Lehigh Avenue and Mascher Street.

An unidentified man walks past the  Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia
An unidentified man walks past the Criminal Justice Center in PhiladelphiaRead moreSteven M. Falk / Staff Photographer / file

A Delaware County man with a history of drug use and motor vehicle crimes pleaded no contest Thursday in the hit-and-run death of a homeless veteran who was struck in her wheelchair a year ago on Lehigh Avenue in Fairhill.

Andrew Acito, 30, of Clifton Heights, pleaded no contest to vehicular homicide, vehicular homicide while driving intoxicated, driving while intoxicated, and leaving the scene of the fatal accident last Aug. 20 that killed Elaine Heyl, 37.

Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Steven R. Geroff told Acito, tall and bespectacled with long black hair and a bushy black beard, that his no-contest plea carried the same weight as if he was guilty.

The judge set sentencing for Oct. 23. Assistant District Attorney Tanner Rouse said he did not know what sentence he would recommend. Vehicular homicide while driving intoxicated carries a prison sentence of five to 10 years.

Defense attorney Edward C. Meehan Jr. declined to comment.

According to Rouse, Heyl was in her wheelchair on Lehigh at Mascher Street at 1:40 a.m. when Acito struck her in his Ford F-250 at 44 mph. He then hit a second woman and continued driving until he was stopped by police four blocks away.

Rouse said police reported that Acito's eyes were glassy, his speech was slurred, and he acknowledged hitting something but "was not sure what it was."

Rouse said a blood test showed that Acito was under the influence of morphine, codeine, cocaine, and alprazolam, the generic name for the tranquilizer Xanax.

Rouse said the other woman whom Acito hit was Julissa Valentin, now 19, who lived nearby on Mascher. Valentin was not seriously injured, Rouse said.

Media reports at the time of the accident quoted drug and homeless outreach workers who said Heyl was well-known among residents of that section of Lehigh.

The outreach workers said Heyl was an Air Force veteran who served in Iraq but used drugs and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

No family or friends were in court Thursday for Heyl or Acito. Rouse said that Heyl was from South Carolina and was in contact with relatives about attending Acito's sentencing.

Court records show that Acito had four convictions in Delaware County involving drugs, theft, and motor vehicle crimes.

Acito is scheduled for trial Sept. 5 in Delaware County on burglary charges in an incident that occurred two days before the crash that killed Heyl.