Charges filed in Lower Providence crash that killed pregnant Lansdale woman

NORRISTOWN — The driver and owner of a dump truck have been charged with homicide in connection with a two-vehicle crash in Lower Providence that killed the other driver, a pregnant Lansdale woman.

Arrest warrants have been issued for Everett James Clayton, 56, of Charleston, WV, the driver of the truck, and Patrick Hadley Doran, 23, of Gaithersburg, Md., the owner of the truck, in connection with the August 25, 2022, head-on crash in the block 500 block of South Park Avenue that killed Kelly Marie Adams, 31, of Lansdale, and her unborn child, Emersyn Grace Adams.

After their arrest, Clayton and Doran will be extradited to Montgomery County to face charges, officials said.

The arrest warrants were announced Friday by Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Lower Providence Police Chief Michael Jackson.

“In addition to the direct actions of the driver causing the murder, the owner allowed this truck to be on the road even though he knew it did not even meet the basic requirements for legal operation. The dump truck should never have been on the road where it became a deadly weapon,” Steele argued.

“The death of this beloved young mother and her child has caused so much heartache to the family and community. We are saddened by their loss and have filed charges to the fullest extent of the law,” Steele added.

Clayton is charged with vehicular manslaughter, speeding, reckless and imprudent driving, failure to maintain lane, failure to keep right, driving without financial responsibility, driving an unregistered vehicle, driving without proper inspection and driving while dangerous. braking system due to an accident.

Doran is charged with vehicular manslaughter, operating a motor vehicle without proper financial responsibility and numerous other offenses related to violating the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code.

With the charges against Clayton, detectives in the criminal case allege that he was driving a Ford F650 XLT Super Duty dump truck with “extreme recklessness and recklessness at a speed in excess of such that he failed to maintain control of his vehicle.” Clayton failed to enter the curve at a speed that would have allowed him to maintain control of the vehicle, Lower Providence Police Sergeant Ryan Singleton argued in the criminal complaint.

“Clayton’s reckless and reckless operation caused him to cross the center of the roadway and cross into the oncoming lane,” Singleton argued.

Along with the charges against Doran, detectives alleged that he allowed an unsafe vehicle to operate on the road and that if he had followed the rules of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code as well as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations and made sure that Clayton was fit to drive, “this accident could have avoid”.

The investigation began around 2:59 p.m. Aug. 25 when Lower Providence police responded to a report of a two-vehicle hit-and-run accident in the 500 block of South Park Avenue in the Audubon Township section, according to a criminal complaint.

Arriving officers determined that the crash involved a 2003 dump truck driven by Clayton, who was uninjured, and a 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe driven by Adams, who was trapped inside her vehicle. Adams, who was eight months pregnant at the time of the crash, died at the scene and her baby was stillborn, according to court documents.

An autopsy determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to both Adams and her unborn child. Adams, the mother of two boys, was a 2009 graduate of Northern Pennsylvania High School and was a middle and high school teacher at Cottage Seven Academy in Phoenixville, her obituary said.

Lower Providence police crash reconstructionists determined Clayton was southbound on South Park Avenue and Adams was northbound at the time of the crash.

The two-lane roadway includes a double yellow line in the center that separates the northbound and southbound lanes and includes grooved pavement that alerts drivers when they begin to drift out of their lane, according to court documents.

The roadway has a speed limit of 40 mph, and vehicles approaching the southbound curve pass a traffic control warning light that indicates a curve with a recommended speed of 25 mph, according to the arrest affidavit.

Clayton’s truck, which was traveling southbound, went through a curve in the roadway, failed to maintain its lane and crossed a double yellow line, crossed into the northbound lane and struck Adams’ vehicle head-on, police said.

“Investigators determined it was caused by the size of Clayton’s vehicle, which was traveling too fast for the radius of the curve,” Singleton claimed. “This impact was of such a violent nature that it stopped all forward motion of Adams’ vehicle and moved it completely off the roadway and into the field.”

The dump truck portion of Clayton’s vehicle was completely separated from the chassis of the vehicle when the vehicle flipped from the driver’s side to the passenger side and left the roadway, police said.

The investigation revealed that the dump truck’s registration expired in June 2022. Investigators also determined the registration was issued to a concrete company in Philadelphia, whose owner later told police he sold the truck to another person in July 2022, according to arrest affidavits. Investigators say Doran used an alias to purchase the truck and failed to legally transfer title to the vehicle and properly register the vehicle in his name or his company name.

The investigation also revealed that the dump truck failed a Pennsylvania inspection and the vehicle had an expired New Jersey inspection sticker for 2019, according to court documents.

Clayton, according to investigators, failed to provide law enforcement with adequate proof of financial responsibility for the vehicle at the scene of the accident.

During a police interview, Clayton allegedly stated that he had an alcoholic beverage at lunch and an additional alcoholic beverage approximately 30 minutes before the crash, and claimed that he was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash. Officers at the scene saw Clayton holding a plastic bag with additional containers of beer, the criminal complaint said.

Investigators said tests later showed Clayton’s blood-alcohol level was 0.076 percent, just below the 0.08 percent legal limit for driving. Clayton is not charged with DUI.

However, authorities say being in possession of and under the influence of any detectable amount of an alcoholic beverage “would have caused him to be put out of service” under federal motor carrier regulations.

According to court documents, Clayton told investigators that he worked for a masonry and asphalt company, that he was a foreman and that his job was to drive the truck to the job site.

“Clayton stated that he was not familiar with the road he was driving on when the accident occurred, but stated that it had many curves,” Singleton argued.

Clayton allegedly claimed he was driving about 40 mph, went around the curve, saw Adams’ Tahoe in the northbound lane, then took his foot off the gas pedal and cut the wheel to the right, causing the impact. Clayton said he did not know when the vehicle was last inspected and that he was not aware of any mechanical problems with the truck, according to court documents. When asked about the insurance, Clayton allegedly stated that it was handled by his boss, “Patrick.”

After examining the truck after the crash, investigators concluded that there were no mechanical problems or malfunctions that could have contributed to the crash. However, authorities concluded that the vehicle would not have passed Pennsylvania’s MOT for several reasons, the most notable failure being the difference in diameter between the two sets of rear dual tires, which “could lead to lateral stability problems under rapid steering , “- claim the investigators.

Investigators added that the truck’s passenger-side front brake had overspray from the truck’s wheel paint on the brake rotor, causing contamination that would have “put the truck out of service,” according to the criminal complaint.

Violations found during inspections are the responsibility of both the owner and the operator, authorities said. The owner is responsible for making sure the vehicle is maintained and complies with all state and federal regulations, police said.

“Since this vehicle’s gross vehicle weight is over 17,001 pounds, the operator must ensure that the vehicle has been inspected, properly registered and insured, and is in safe operating condition before placing the vehicle on the roadway,” Singleton argued.