Carbondale man charged after crash involving 8-year-old passenger

A Carbondale man faces child endangerment charges after police say he crashed a minibike with his 8-year-old nephew on the back into a car at the Turkey Hill on Eighth Avenue, before leaving the scene.

Police say Michael Tuthill, 27, of Pike Street, then drove to the nearby Dollar Tree in Ames Plaza, with the boy again on the back of the bike, where Tuthill planned to buy him candy.

When Tuthill offered to buy the candy, the boy said he just wanted to go home, according to a criminal complaint describing the Jan. 11 incident.

The boy had a visible head injury. Dollar Tree staff told police they noticed the boy’s head injury when he entered the store.

Tuthill then asked if he could leave the minibike in the business’s stockroom because he had just been involved in a crash and knew it was not legal to drive it on the roadway. He later called the store to ask if the police were there.

Responding officers spoke with Joseph Munifo, who said he had been leaving the Turkey Hill parking lot when a man, later identified as Tuthill, hit the driver’s side of his Subaru with a minibike.

Munifo said both Tuthill and a juvenile passenger fell off the minibike before Tuthill put the 8-year-old back on and fled toward the high school. Mufino then called 911 to report the incident.

Witness Seth Curcio told police he had been standing in the parking lot at the time of the crash and confirmed that the minibike had “rolled into the parking lot,” hit another vehicle and then left the scene.

Officers were familiar with Tuthill and had previously warned him not to operate the minibike on roadways.

Police then searched the area and found Tuthill at Auto Zone. He said he had walked his nephew to his home and was on his way back to the store to pick up the minibike.

Tuthill thought he could leave the scene because he told witnesses they didn’t need to call 911, he told police.

Tuthill is charged with child endangerment and leaving the scene of an accident.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on March 2 before District Judge Paul Keeler.