A father and his 15-year-old daughter surrendered to police yesterday to face charges in a bizarre auto accident last month in Mayfair that fatally injured an 18-year-old woman in a yard – a crash in which the young mother was able to toss her baby to safety before being run down.
Richard Miller, 46, of Longshore Avenue in Mayfair, was giving his 15-year-old daughter a driving lesson on a parking lot of Abraham Lincoln High School when the 1999 Mercury Grand Marquis that the teen was driving accelerated, crashed through a chain-link fence, raced across the street, mounted a lawn, and struck Sarah McGinley.Miller faces charges of homicide by vehicle and involuntary manslaughter. His daughter, Megan, is being charged with an accident involving death while not properly licensed.
“This young person did not even qualify to get or obtain . . . a learner's permit,” said District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham, who declined to release the teenager's name because she is being charged as, and will be tried as, a juvenile. In the days after the accident, police released the names of both father and daughter.
The two surrendered to a police accident investigator without comment at 12:42 p.m. yesterday at the Ninth Police District in Center City. They were accompanied by an unidentified woman and their attorney, Fortunato N. Perri Jr.
“This is by far one of the saddest situations that I've ever been involved with,” Perri said. “No one feels worse about what's happened here than the Miller family. The McGinley family have been in the thoughts and prayers of the Miller family from the time that this thing happened.”
The accident occurred on the afternoon of April 17, a warm Sunday when many residents on placid Nesper Street near Ryan Avenue were outside tending to gardens or otherwise enjoying the weather.
In the split-second before the runaway vehicle struck her in her fiance's front yard, McGinley was able to save her 1-year-old daughter's life by tossing her into some bushes. McGinley, who was living in the home with her fiance, the baby's father, died of her injuries less than four hours later.
The baby, Victoria Wagner, whose first birthday was April 6, was examined at the hospital after the crash, found to be unhurt, and handed over to her grandfather.
At a news conference yesterday at her offices, Abraham said parents “have to learn to say no to their children” when they ask to drive without going through the process of getting a valid learner's permit.
“If you drive and you don't have a license, you are responsible . . . if somebody dies as a result of your driving,” Abraham said. “The father of this young lady is also being charged because he took his daughter out driving the car, knowing that she wasn't licensed.”
Perri called the crash a “pure accident.”
“It's unfortunate now that a sad tragedy is being compounded with allegations of criminality,” he said.
Contact staff writer Thomas J. Gibbons Jr. at 215-854-2642 or tgibbons@phillynews.com.