An 18-year-old West Lawn man is accused of hitting two peers with his motorcycle on a street in Wyomissing’s Greenwood Mall neighborhood and fleeing as one of the victims was seriously injured on the ground.
Dominic L. Hecht of the 2500 block of Penn Avenue was held for court following a preliminary hearing Monday before Senior Judge Paul N. Leo in West Reading. Hecht remained free to await further action in Berks County Court.
Wyomissing police charged him with two counts each of reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident involving personal injury, in addition to causing an accident while not licensed and driving under a suspended license.
According to the probable cause affidavit:
The victim who was most seriously injured told police that he was celebrating his birthday with friends in the first block of Larchwood Road on Oct. 27. As he followed the group to the street to say goodbye shortly after 11 p.m., he heard the revving of Hecht’s motorcycle.
He said he was familiar with the sound because it had been a recurring issue with Hecht stopping there and revving on his way home from his job at a nearby Wyomissing factory. He said Hecht worked the 3 p.m. shift.
He said he used to be good friends with Hecht but that they had a falling out over the summer.
He and the other victim, who said he went to high school with Hecht, gave the same account, as did another witness.
Soon after leaving the residence, they heard a motorcycle engine revving. By the sound alone, they identified it as Hecht’s bike. As it approached at a high speed, they tried to draw close to a parked car to avoid being hit.
A dashboard camera from one of the other vehicles shows the motorcycle revving as the two victims and a third person are in the street. The motorcycle accelerates at a high speed and strikes the first victim — the one who was celebrating a birthday. The victim falls into the front bumper, and the rider falls over and slides with the bike into the second victim, whose hand was struck.
In the video, the rider does not appear to brake. The witness, who knows Hecht, said she walked up to him and asked, “What are you doing?” immediately after the crash.
The witness said Hecht fled down Birchwood Road before police arrived.
The first victim was taken by ambulance to Reading Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a broken right knee, a concussion and bruises throughout his body.
Hecht’s employer confirmed that he had clocked out at the factory, which is about 1 1/2 miles from the crash, at 11 p.m. that night.