A Bensalem man who fled the scene of a fatal crash on Christmas Eve will face trial

A Bensalem man who police say struck and killed a pedestrian on Christmas Eve and then left the scene was held for trial Wednesday.

Kevin Baker Jr., 20, will face a judge in Doylestown on charges including being a driver in a hit-and-run accident involving death and tampering with evidence. Authorities say Baker’s red Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck was seen on surveillance video driving down State Road in Croydon moments before John Dugan, 65, and his fiancée attempted to cross the busy street.

Dugan fell as the couple walked, his fiancée, Christina Mazzatenta, testified Wednesday, and he was trying to get up when Baker ran him over. The truck was just inches from Mazzatenta, she told Magisterial District Judge Frank Peranteau, so close she had to jump back to avoid being hit herself.

» READ MORE: A Bucks County man was killed in a hit-and-run on Christmas Eve. His family is pleading for answers.

Dugan died en route to a hospital, according to investigators. He had several signs of blunt-force trauma on his body, they said, including a large tire mark across his back.

Days after the crash, amid media reports about Dugan’s death and the search for the vehicle involved, Baker’s father turned the truck in to Bristol Township police. Kevin Baker Sr. later testified before a grand jury that he only learned his son had been involved in a crash from that news coverage, testimony the grand jurors found “not completely truthful,” according to court documents.

Baker’s attorney, Louis Busico, said Wednesday that Baker did not know that he had hit someone. Dugan was wearing dark clothing at the time of the crash, and there is no stoplight, stop sign, or crosswalk at that section of State Road, he said. The crash also occurred around dusk, he said, in an area with poor lighting.

Baker’s girlfriend, Elizabeth Joyce, testified that she was reclined in the truck’s passenger seat at the time and was trying to sleep, not feeling well after a day of Christmas shopping and visiting relatives. She never felt the crash, she testified, nor heard anything unusual as the couple drove.

“In no way do I want to depreciate the horrific loss experienced by the Dugan family,” Busico said. “But at the end of the day, [Baker] wasn’t aware anything happened, he wasn’t aware of the police investigation, and that is why this case fails.”

Assistant District Attorney Jovin Jose disputed that theory of the case. Jose said surveillance footage from nearby traffic cameras showed the red Silverado driving erratically minutes after the crash, illegally passing other vehicles.

“He was trying to hightail it out of there so no one would catch him after hitting a person,” Jose said. “That’s consciousness of guilt.”

Jose also played other surveillance video from a home in Bensalem, recorded the day before Baker went to the police, that showed Baker and Joyce trying to fix damage to the truck’s bumper using boiling water and duct tape.

“He does that to cover up his actions, so police can’t connect him to that act,” Jose said.