A New Jersey man was sentenced to 3-23 months at the county jail after pleading guilty to a hit-and-run of a United States Postal Service truck in Sharon Hill last year.
Hamlet Espinal, 23, Pennsauken, entered an open guilty plea before Common Pleas Court Judge Dominic Pileggi to one count of accidents involving death or personal injury, a third-degree felony.
Espinal told the judge he did not know he hit the truck. He said he was just leaving work and was tired, and “kind of fell asleep” while driving, but believed he had struck a telephone pole that took off his side mirror.
The strike occurred about 2 p.m. on Nov. 7 at the corner of Elmwood and Clifton avenues, and threw the mail carrier from the truck.
He was transported to a hospital and underwent numerous tests.
Espinal left the scene but was taken into custody the following day during a traffic stop and charged with recklessly endangering another person, reckless driving, careless driving and accidents involving death or personal injury.
The remaining charges were dismissed under the plea worked out by Assistant District Attorney Domenique Aguirre and defense counsel Stephen Schukraft.
Aguirre read a letter from the victim dated May 16, in which he said he was still unable to return to work at that time after diligently serving the postal service for nearly 32 years without incident. The victim said he had been placed into a “non-pay” status and had used more than 400 hours of sick time.
The victim said he landed on his head and back, suffering injuries to both, when he was thrown from his vehicle. He has since undergone knee surgery and had an epidural to his spine to relieve pain there.
He said he has not been able to care for family members who relied on him prior to the crash and had to cancel a trip planned for Nov. 8 at the last minute, which still has not been rescheduled.
