Cheswick Woman Saves Her License After Criminal Auto Accident Charges

Lately, in Cheswick, PA, a 35-year-old woman, working as a medical assistant needed the legal expertise of Worgul, Sarna & Ness, Criminal Defense Attorneys after a car crash resulted in criminal auto accident charges. Apparently, officers found the disoriented woman walking on the side of the road and concluded that she must have been drinking and couldn’t navigate the road, which caused her to crash. They subsequently charged her with public drunkenness, reckless driving, failure to drive at a safe speed, failure to notify the police of an accident, and giving false information to police. This collection of charges could have resulted in six points on her license, a six-month license suspension, and a total of $1,500 in fines. Worried about the allegations levied against her and the serious penalties, she contacted our attorneys at Worgul, Sarna & Ness, Criminal Defense Attorneys, LLC.

Attorney Matthew Ness argued that his client was disoriented because she suffered a concussion after she hit a deer and couldn’t notify the police properly because her phone was dead. Additionally, he reasoned that the police had not seen her driving to substantiate the speeding, reckless, or unsafe driving charges. The Judge agreed with most of the argument and found our client not guilty of many of the criminal auto accident charges; however, since the officer smelled alcohol and did not think an uncharged phone was a sufficient excuse, he found her guilty of public drunkenness and failing to notify the police of an accident. Attorney Matthew Ness advised they would likely win an appeal of the remaining charges, but our client did not want to take the risk of an appeal and was ultimately quite pleased to save her license and reduce her fines by $800.

The outcome of an individual case depends on a variety of factors unique to that case. Case results do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any similar or future case.