Sharon Hill man sentenced to state prison for a hit-and-run crash that killed a mother of two

Domair Brown went to great lengths to flee from justice last August after running over a Delaware County woman in a rented car while drunk and high, prosecutors said Friday.

He parked the damaged Honda Accord miles away from the Southwest Philadelphia crash scene, abandoning it in a shopping center parking lot in the city. He ditched his cellphone in a trash can at a high school in Sharon Hill. He had his girlfriend lie to police on his behalf. And he spent nearly a month on the lam as a fugitive.

Despite those efforts, Brown, 31, faced justice Friday inside a Media courtroom, when he was sentenced to 3 ½-to-7 years in state prison in the death of Ashley McLean.

Brown, of Sharon Hill, entered a guilty plea negotiated with prosecutors to homicide by vehicle, accidents involving death, evading arrest and making false reports for striking McLean about 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 25 as she was crossing Lindbergh Boulevard.

McLean, a 27-year-old mother of two and daughter of Folcroft Police Officer Leslie McLean, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Brown said little after the sentence was handed down by Delaware County Court Judge Kevin Kelly, offering his “sincerest apologies” for what he had done.

Deputy District Attorney Douglas Rhoads said though the prosecution focused on Brown, Friday’s proceeding was “the Ashley McLean case.”

“The court should know that Ashley McLean was a loved and loving mother, daughter, sister, friend and fiancée,” Rhoads said. “Her life was cut short, and all the hopes and desires she had were taken away in an instant.”

Brown had been out drinking at the Happy Inn in Darby, celebrating his friend’s birthday, hours before the fatal crash, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed for his arrest. He and his group of friends later got together to smoke marijuana elsewhere in Darby, before deciding to visit Harrah’s casino in Chester, the affidavit said.

At the time, Brown did not have a driver’s license. The vehicle he was driving, police said, had been rented by his girlfriend, Monia Tabon.

After the crash, Brown fled the scene, calling Tabon and urging her to report the car stolen, according to a statement she gave police. Friends of Brown’s later texted each other, noting that the Fraternal Order of Police had posted a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the driver that killed McLean, the affidavit said.

Tabon did call police to report the vehicle stolen, saying it had been taken while being parked outside of a home in Sharon Hill. She later recanted that statement after being questioned by detectives, and said Brown was the last person she had seen use the car after he dropped her off at Philadelphia International Airport for her trip to Miami the day before the crash.

Tabon was charged with making false reports. Her criminal case is pending in Delaware County Court.

On Friday, McLean’s family and friends packed into Kelly’s courtroom, united in their grief over losing her.

Her fiancé, Brandon Stouch, told the judge that raising their daughter as a single father has been the hardest thing he has ever had to do. (McClean’s older daughter, from a previous relationship, now lives with her biological father in West Virginia.)

His voice thick with emotion, he described standing just feet away from McLean as she was struck, and desperately giving her CPR until he was out of breath.

“I will never forget that night,” he said, “because when I close my eyes, it’s all I see.”

McLean’s mother, Leslie, said their entire family has been broken by her loss. When they should’ve been planning her wedding, she said, they were making arrangements for her funeral.

“Ashley deserved more than 27 years on this Earth,” she said. “Instead, she got her life ripped away from her as she was crossing the street by someone who had no respect for anyone’s life but his own.”