An 18-year-old Newtown man has been charged for a fatal April crash that occurred in Wrightstown Township.
Benjamin J. Gillie was brought before on-call District Judge Daniel Finello on Monday at 11 a.m. to be preliminarily arraigned on charges of homicide by vehicle, recklessly endangering another person, exceeding max speed limited by 41 mph, obedience to traffic control devices, and related offenses. He was released on $100,000 unsecured bail.
On Friday, April 28 at 5:35 p.m., officers from Newtown Township, who patrol Wrightstown Township, were dispatched to the 800 block of Worthington Mill Road for a report of a crash involving injuries. The initial 9-1-1 call came from an off-duty Falls Township Police Department detective, according to court papers obtained by NewtownPANow.com.
At the time of the crash, a steady rain was falling and there was ponding on the roadway, police said.
The crash was between a Subaru Crosstrek and a black Audi S4, police said.
The crash happened on the curve on the road.
Elisabeth Burnett-Martin, 49, a research scientist from Northampton Township, was trapped in the Subaru and firefighters had to extricate her from the vehicle by the Lingohocken Fire Company and Newtown Fire Rescue. It took about 30 minutes for the firefighters to cut Burnett-Martin from her vehicle, police said.
Burnett-Martin was then rushed to St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown Township with “multiple traumatic injuries,” according to authorities.
Gillie was the driver of the Audi and there was a 17-year-old male passenger in the vehicle. Both had non-life-threatening injuries and were placed in the back of a patrol car at the scene, police said.
On Saturday, April 29, investigators learned Burnett-Martin died at the hospital due to the injuries from the crash, police said.
Gillie told an officer, according to court papers, that the Audi started “slipping around the curve.”
The passenger reportedly stated that “my friend spun out and spun into the car.”
A witness heading home along Worthington Mill Road said they watched the Audi spin out and strike the Subaru head-on, police said.
Police stated there were indications the Audi left the roadway before slamming into the Subaru head-on. The force of the crash left a reported 7-inch-long gouge in the roadway.
Police said Gillie had to drive past several signs warning of a curve, a sign indicating 35 mph on the curve, and a sign stating the speed limit was 40 mph.
Investigators pulled data from the Audi’s electronic data recorder and determined that five seconds before the crash, the vehicle was traveling at 65 mph with the accelerator pedal at 92 percent. At 2.5 seconds prior to the crash, the Audi was traveling at 81 mph, which was 41 mph faster than the speed limit, police said.
Data from Burnett-Martin’s Subaru showed the vehicle was traveling at 41 mph just over 2 seconds before the collision, police said.
Bucks County Coroner Meredith Buck ruled that Burnett-Martin died of “multiple injuries.”
According to an obituary, Burnett-Martin was survived by her husband, family, and a network of friends around the globe. She was described as being “cheerful,” “brilliant,” and “loyal.”
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
