Man Pleads Guilty In Near-Fatal Benj. Franklin Parkway Crash
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A 23-year-old Lancaster County man has pleaded guilty to a hit-and-run crash last April on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway that nearly killed a Temple University Law student.
Nicholas Hasselback, himself a Temple student at the time of the accident, has admitted that he was driving the speeding car that hit and nearly killed 25-year-old Tony Foltz.
Philadelphia prosecutor Lynne O'Brien says Hasselback ignored repeated pleas from a passenger to slow down:
"Despite the group of pedestrians ahead, the defendant continued at a speed far exceeding the speed limit -- it was approximated at 55 to 60 miles an hour, which is approximately how fast he was going when he hit Tony. He swerved to avoid two people and hit Tony instead."
And then Hasselback fled the scene. Foltz suffered massive head and other injuries, was comatose for days, and hospitalized for months.
But Foltz was in court on Friday for the guilty plea. O'Brien says Foltz has made a nearly complete recovery and has returned to law school.
Reported by Tony Hanson, KYW Newsradio.
