Common Pleas Court Judge Charles Ehrlich recently announced a sentence and a verdict in a case involving a June 1, 2020 car accident on Grant Avenue that claimed the lives of two teenagers.
Dylan Urbanowski, now 22, of Willow Grove, was the driver in the two-car crash on Grant Avenue, just west of Bustleton Avenue.
Urbanowski had four passengers, two of whom died: Mike Jacoby, of Fox Chase, and Sebastian Plummer, of Morrell Park, both of whom were in the back seat.
Jacoby, 18, was set to graduate from Northeast High and play football at Millersville. Plummer died of a brain injury five days after the crash, three days after his 19th birthday.
Two other passengers received serious injuries, but survived.
Police said Urbanowski was driving a 2007 Honda west on Grant Avenue at a high rate of speed at 10:35 p.m. when he lost control of his vehicle, which slid sideways and crossed over into eastbound lanes, where it was struck by a 2019 Acura heading in the opposite direction.
The impact and rotation caused Urbanowski and the three rear passengers to be ejected from the vehicle.
Urbanowski later pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle, homicide by vehicle while DUI and aggravated assault by vehicle.
On Oct. 26, Ehrlich sentenced Urbanowski to 3-6 years in prison on the charge of homicide by vehicle while DUI. He imposed a concurrent sentence of 1-2 years for homicide by vehicle and five years probation for aggravated assault by vehicle.
Meanwhile, Ehrlich presided over a waiver trial for Kimberly Eddis, 52, of the 9700 block of Laramie Road in Pine Valley. She was charged with involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person and furnishing liquor to minors.
The five people in the car had left a high school graduation party at Eddis’ home.
The Eddis trial took place on Oct. 20, with Urbanowski testifying and videos shown of the crash.
Ehrlich delivered his verdict on Oct. 30, finding Eddis not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and recklessly endangering another person and guilty of furnishing liquor to minors.
Eddis, who is represented by Fred Perri, will be sentenced on Jan. 3, but Assistant District Attorney Jessica Chung said she will likely receive probation. Chung said Eddis would have probably received probation even if convicted of involuntary manslaughter, adding that she probably would have lost her nursing license.
Charles Jacoby, Mike’s dad, and Karen Bush, Sebastian’s mom, were in the courtroom for the proceedings. Jacoby was wearing his son’s Millersville No. 73 football jersey.
In deciding Eddis’ guilt or innocence on involuntary manslaughter, Ehrlich looked at prior case law. He recalled Urbanowski’s testimony that underage drinking was not a regular occurrence at her house, and that Eddis told the group to end the party.
The judge said Eddis, who also had drinks, perhaps showed negligence by not collecting car keys.
“I do not believe it’s criminal negligence,” he said, adding, “This does not excuse what happened.” ••
