Pennsylvania police said that a man who crashed into another vehicle, killing a woman, previously pleaded guilty to five DUIs.
David Strowhouer left his mother’s funeral on Feb. 17, before slamming head-on into the other vehicle in Upper Chichester Township in Delaware County, police said. He was charged with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, aggravated assault by vehicle, and several remaining crimes.
Prosecutors want to use a new criminal statute, an October 2018 amendment to state law, that would make Strowhouer’s mandatory minimum sentence seven years if he’s convicted, taking into account the prior pleas.
“I think it’s one of those circumstances when you look at his criminal history and think, seven years isn’t even enough, not by any stretch of the imagination,” Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun Copeland told the Philly Voice. “I don’t know that he has learned his lesson yet. He’s brought tragedy to a family and, to an extent, brought tragedy to his own.”
After the most recent guilty plea, in 2017, Strowhouer was sentenced to a prison term of one to five years. He served a little more than a year before being paroled in the fall of 2018.
“Given his past conduct of cycling in and out of jail, that gives us reason to ask the court to go above and beyond the mandatory sentencing guidelines in this case,” Copeland said. “On a day when he should’ve been with his family, he chooses to get drunk, cause a fatal crash, and then create a lie for investigators.”
Strowhauer allegedly told investigators that he was a passenger in his vehicle before learning that he was actually driving. Detectives found that he had an expired Florida driver’s license and that he was ineligible to drive in Pennsylvania.
Man With 5 Prior DUIs Charged In Crash That Killed Woman In Upper Chichester, Police Say https://t.co/8agTcRJcNz
— CBS Philly (@CBSPhilly) February 20, 2019
Victim Identified
The dead woman was identified as Deana Eckman. Her husband, Chris, was rushed to the hospital after the crash.
According to Eckman’s obituary, she was an accounts receivable specialist at Alarm Funding Associates and also worked as a manicurist at Salon Bella Amici. It said she was a “devoted wife … living daughter … and cherished sister.”
Eckman’s mother Roseann DeRosa said that her daughter and her daughter’s husband drove to Maryland to celebrate Chris’ nephew’s birthday and were on their way back when the crash occurred.
DeRosa said the couple loved being together and often spent time with family and friends.
“They were always together. They did everything together,” DeRose told the Delco Times. “They always laughed and enjoyed each other.”
They also have a dog, a pitbull named Chooch, that they took in when the previous owner let him go.
Eckman also loved being an aunt and DeRosa described her as doting. “She was warm, loving, generous, sweet, kind and considerate,” she said. “She would do anything for anybody at any time.”
Drunk Driving
Almost 30 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes every day, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The number of deaths has fallen by a third in the last three decades; however, drunk-driving crashes still claim more than 10,000 lives per year, with 10,874 recorded in 2017, or 29 percent of all motor vehicle traffic fatalities. Alcohol severely affects drivers, the administration noted.
“Alcohol is a substance that reduces the function of the brain, impairing thinking, reasoning, and muscle coordination. All these abilities are essential to operating a vehicle safely,” it stated. Blood Alcohol Concentration, or BAC, is a way to measure how much someone has drank, and is measured by the weight of the alcohol in a certain volume of blood.
At .15, the typical effects on driving include “Substantial impairment in vehicle control, attention to driving task, and in necessary visual and auditory information processing,” according to the administration. Even small amounts of alcohol can affect driving ability.
In 2017, there were 1,837 people killed in alcohol-related crashes where drivers had lower alcohol levels than the legal limit.
“Driving after drinking is deadly. Yet it still continues to happen across the United States. If you drive while impaired, you could get arrested, or worse—be involved in a traffic crash that causes serious injury or death,” the administration added. People who plan to drink should designate a sober driver ahead of time or call a taxi, ride-sharing service, or friend.
