Berks jury finds driver guilty of fatally running over his fiancee and leaving scene

Apr. 26—A former Shillington man has been convicted by a Berks County jury on all counts stemming from fatally running over his fiancee on Penn Square in Reading in 2021 and leaving the scene.

Joseph Alley, 49, most recently of Arizona, was found guilty Thursday of accidents involving death or personal injury, failing to provide immediate notice of accident to police, careless driving leading to unintentional death and related counts following a trial before Judge Thomas Parisi.

On Jan. 8, 2021, Alley failed to stop after he was involved in an accident that led to the death of Mikerrah Page, 24, of Reading, police said.

Alley remains in Berks County Prison awaiting sentencing.

The accident occurred during a rolling argument, police said.

According to investigators:

Police were dispatched about 9:30 p.m. to Fifth and Penn streets for a report of a person down.

Officers arrived to find Page lying in the first block of North Fifth, suffering from a severe head injury. She was taken by ambulance to Reading Hospital where she was admitted in critical condition.

Witnesses told an investigator that the victim had been running east in the 400 block of Penn behind a silver SUV or truck, which stopped in the left-turn lane at Fifth. The victim caught up to the vehicle and was hitting the window with her hand when the vehicle accelerated quickly and turned left onto North Fifth.

The witnesses said the woman was hanging on the vehicle, then fell off during the turn and onto the street. The vehicle continued north on Fifth, turning east onto the 500 block of Court.

A short time later, police were alerted that the victim's fiance had arrived at the hospital.

An investigator spoke to the man, who identified himself as Joseph Alley. The investigator noticed Alley had dried blood on his sweatshirt.

Alley said he was driving on Route 422 with Page in a rental vehicle, a silver SUV, when he took the Penn Street exit. As he traveled east on Penn, he and Page had a fight and that's how he got blood on his sweatshirt.

He said he stopped in front of a restaurant on the south side of Penn Street, and Page got out. He said he drove away, leaving her there.

When questioned by police, Alley admitted Page had walked after his truck after she got out, but said he drove off and went to her apartment and did not see her again.

Video footage from the area, though, showed that Page had reached Alley's passenger's side window while he was stopped at a red light. When he turned left she held on to the door but fell and was run over by the SUV, which raised up as it drove over her.

Alley did not stop, driving off without giving her aid.

Page died 11 days later in Reading Hospital.

An autopsy showed that her fatal injury was a skull fracture caused by her head being run over by Alley's SUV.