Dump truck owner pleads guilty in crash that killed a pregnant woman in Montco

A man who prosecutors say failed to maintain a dump truck that struck and killed a pregnant woman in Montgomery County last year pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle on Wednesday during a crowded hearing in Norristown.

Patrick Hadley Doran, 24, was awaiting trial before Judge Risa Vetri Ferman, with a jury ready to be seated, when he decided to plead guilty to the third-degree felony.

He faces up to seven years in prison and will remain in jail while awaiting sentencing.

Though Doran hadn’t been driving the Ford F650 XLT Super Duty truck that swerved into an SUV driven by 31-year-old Kellie Adams in Lower Providence Township last August, prosecutors said the United Kingdom native bore responsibility for failing to register and inspect the vehicle, which would not have passed commercial inspection. While mechanical failures did not contribute to the crash, prosecutors say Doran shared the blame for Adams’ death.

Adams, of Lansdale, died at the scene of blunt-force injuries, and lost her unborn daughter.

Adams’ friends and family and a host of first responders filled the courtroom as Doran made his plea and briefly apologized for the crash, prosecutors said.

Efforts to reach Doran and his lawyer were unsuccessful.

Prosecutors said Doran recruited 56-year-old Everett Clayton to drive the 26,000-pound vehicle for his asphalt business, even though he knew that Clayton had no experience driving such a powerful truck.

Doran urged Clayton, of West Virginia, to speed between jobs on the afternoon of Aug. 25, according to prosecutors. Clayton, who was experiencing homelessness and had been panhandling to make ends meet before he got the trucking job, was driving recklessly and tailgating vehicles ahead of him on that day, prosecutors said.

As Clayton sped through a sharp curve on South Park Avenue, he lost control of the truck, fishtailed, and struck Adams’ Chevrolet Tahoe with enough force to send it into a nearby field. He’d been driving 25 miles over the speed limit, prosecutors said, and later admitted to drinking two beers that day -— including one 30 minutes before the crash — and had a blood-alcohol content just shy of the legal threshold for intoxication.

Clayton is awaiting trial on third-degree murder and related charges. He has pleaded not guilty.

While Clayton’s actions were “far more egregious” than Doran’s, First Assistant District Attorney Edward F. McCann said the two shared in the blame for the crash. And he said prosecutors had been prepared to make that case to the jury.

“Our main argument would have been that this guy bought a truck, never did anything that any person who buys a vehicle would reasonably do,” McCann said. “He never got it inspected, never got it registered, he didn’t have any insurance for it.”

McCann said Doran’s asphalt business operated primarily on cash, with Doran encouraging his employees to perform as many jobs per day as possible. And he said Doran hired Clayton knowing that he lacked the proper training to drive the truck.

“I think there was an inevitability that something like this could happen,” McCann said.

By pleading guilty, McCann said, Doran acknowledged his responsibility for the death that resulted from the crash, providing Adams’ family with some measure of solace.

“[With] a woman in her early 30s with two little boys, a husband, and another child on the way, a guilty plea does not really equate to closure,” he said, acknowledging the emotions surrounding the aborted trial. “But I think they were satisfied that, at least so far, the court process has worked.”