75-Year-Old Hit-and-Run Driver Gets House Arrest

Patricia Maurer, 75, who was found guilty of the 2011 hit-and-run death of 26-year-old Kristy Bender in June, was sentenced to seven years of court supervision, according to the Philadephia Inquirer.

Judge Joseph A. Smyth sentenced Maurer to one year of house arrest, one of parole, and five years of non-reporting probation. She is also required to pay the cost of her four-day jury trial this past spring.

The Bender family requested that Maurer, of New Hanover Square Road, not get jail time. Smyth said that he thought not allowing her to drive a car was a "good, practical approach."

"We are satisfied," Bender's mother, Kathy, told The Inquirer.  "We never wanted to see her spend time in jail, given her age and medical condition."

Maurer was convicted June 8 on a felony count of leaving the scene of an accident causing death or injury.

The incident occurred in April of last year, when Maurer was driving along South Township Line Road in Upper Providence and struck Bender, who was walking home from work. Bender died from her injuries on the scene.

Maurer, who has cataracts but drove legally with corrective lenses, testified that she felt a bump, but did not see Bender.  When she saw her damaged car, she called a relative, who called police hours after the incident, according to the testimony.

Maurer apologized to the Benders, saying "I do understand how horrible this must be for them."

Read more by the Inquirer's Bonnie Cook here.

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