Ashland van driver charged in hit-and-run in Fountain Springs
Police charged an Ashland man for a hit-and-run incident in Fountain Springs; however, the driver maintains that he never saw or hit anyone with his van.
Butler Twp. police officer Shawn Butler charged Joseph T. Newhouser, 66, with a misdemeanor count of accidents involving death or personal injury, and one summary count each of failure to stop and give or render aid and failure to notify police of accident involving injury or death, charging documents show.
A preliminary hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Butler investigated the incident on Saturday involving three juvenile male bicyclists, two of whom reported suffering injuries. Upon arrival, Butler spoke with the three at 906 Fountain St., which is in the area of the North Schuylkill Jr./Sr. High School.
The van was driven by Newhouser, according to police, and was traveling north on Fountain Street when it struck three bicyclists who were traveling in the same direction.
Butler said that one of the boys, who was lying on a driveway after the incident, reported feeling pain in his left arm. Another, who was walking around, said that he had pain in the left side of his body and had visible scrapes on his arms, Butler noted.
The parents of both boys were also on-scene prior to EMS arrival and transport to Geisinger Medical Center, Danville.
The other juvenile was not injured.
Butler said that none of the bikes had the safety equipment, such as lamps or reflectors, required by law. Evidence was collected, including broken pieces of a mirror from the striking vehicle.
While on the scene, Butler was contacted by the Schuylkill County Communications Center, which told him to call Newhouser regarding the van.
When contacted by phone, Newhouser told Butler that his passenger side mirror was gone but that he didn’t hit anything. Newhouser then stated that he was informed by his daughter about the hit-and-run incident in the area where he had been traveling, police said.
After the phone conversation, Butler traveled to Newhouser’s home. There, he observed the damage to Newhouser’s van, a 2011 Chevrolet Express with the words Payne’s Flower Shop, and what appeared to be a fresh scratch on the passenger side doors.
Butler matched the pieces he found at the scene of the accident to the van, police said. He then contacted a towing company to remove the vehicle for further investigation.
Later, a witness contacted police and told them about a van driving northbound, stating that after the van passed the bikes, the boys fell from them.
Additionally, Newhouser came to the police station the next day and signed a statement about how he was informed and he wanted to do his due diligence in inspecting his van, police said.
He reiterated that he never saw anyone or, to his knowledge, hit anything, according to police. If he hit anyone, Newhouser told police, he would have stopped.
In a subsequent trip to the impound garage, Butler and Christopher Hand, the township police chief, placed the pieces back together, confirming it was the vehicle responsible, police said.
