LEBANON COUNTY, Pa. – A Middletown man is arrested in the October hit and run that led to the death of a Lebanon County pedestrian. It happen at 10:38 pm in the 400 block of East Cherry Street, Palmyra.
Lisa Thomas, 52, of Palmyra, was critically injured while crossing the street, by the driver of a speeding black four door sedan with a loud exhaust. Thomas died less than two weeks later on November 2 at Penn State Hershey Medical Center.
Since the incident police had been looking for the suspect car which they believed also had a damaged windshield. They found it on November 5 abandoned in the parking lot of Gravel Hill Church in North Londonderry Township. Someone placed the keys to the car in a mailbox of the Palmyra Borough Police during the overnight hours.
During a search of the vehicle, investigators saw that the windshield had been removed and the car appeared to have been wiped clean with a chemical substance in an apparent effort to destroy evidence. Police, however, found enough evidence to link the car to the crime scene.
Information obtained during the investigation led police to 29 year old Chad Ryan Collins. He admitted to striking Thomas and fleeing without rendering aid or notifying police.
Collins was arraigned Friday afternoon on charges of Accidents Involving Serious Bodily Injury or Death, Tampering with Evidence, Failure to Give Information and Render Aid and Failure to Immediately Notify Police of an Accident.
Following arraignment Collins was sent to the Lebanon County Correctional Facility in lieu of $50,000 bail. He faces a preliminary hearing in late December.
