Hatfield Township man faces prison term in fatal hit-and-run that killed pedestrian

NORRISTOWN -- A former North Penn School District maintenance worker will report to prison after the holidays under a plea deal in which he admitted to striking an elderly pedestrian in Hatfield Township while operating a district van and then leaving the scene of the fatal crash.

Nicholas Shaw (Photo courtesy Montgomery County District Attorney)

Nicholas William Shaw, 27, of the 300 block of Logan Drive, Hatfield Township, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court on Tuesday to 1 1/2 to 3 years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of accidents involving death or personal injury and a summary charge of disorderly conduct in connection with the Oct.

27, 2022, hit-and-run incident along Oak Park Road in Hatfield that killed 83-year-old pedestrian Linford Michener. Judge Steven T. O'Neill, who accepted the plea agreement, ordered Shaw to surrender to prison officials on Jan.

4 to begin serving the sentence. Shaw pleaded guilty just days before his Dec.

12 trial was slated to begin. Assistant District Attorney Samantha Anne Arena prosecuted the case.

Defense lawyer Matthew Taylor Wilkov represented Shaw during the court proceedings. The investigation began about 3:13 p.m. Oct.

27 when Hatfield police and ambulance personnel responded to the 700 block of Oak Park Road for a medical emergency involving an elderly man found lying in a drainage ditch adjacent to the road, according to the criminal complaint filed by Hatfield police officers William J. Summerfield and Kenneth E. Peck.

Arriving officers found Michener unresponsive in a grassy area between the northern edge of Oak Park Road and the southern edge of Michener's property in the 1200 block of Koffel Road. Michener was transported by ambulance to Abington Lansdale Hospital where he was evaluated by emergency room staff and pronounced dead at 4:10 p.m. Court documents indicate Michener sustained fractures to his pelvis and lower vertebrae.

After an autopsy, the Montgomery County Coroner's Office ruled the cause of Michener's death was due to "blunt impact injuries" and ruled the manner of death as "accident," according to court documents. Officials stated Michener had injuries consistent with having been struck by a motor vehicle and which were not consistent with a fall, according to court papers. During the investigation, Michener's wife told police she was in the rear of their property weeding when she heard a vehicle hit something and then observed a van flee from the area.

Investigators learned that Michener was walking westbound to a fenced in rear portion of his property that is accessed by a gate located on the north side of Oak Park Road when he was struck from behind by a vehicle traveling westbound, according to court papers. "Mr. Michener's position of his body was consistent with being hit by a vehicle on the front passenger side area while the vehicle was traveling west on Oak Park Road," Summerfield and Peck wrote in the arrest affidavit.

Investigators obtained video surveillance footage from a residence along Oak Park Road that captured a blue Ford Econoline work van with white roof-mounted ladder racks and North Penn School District markings visible on the passenger door traveling westbound on Oak Park Road around the time of the crash, according to the arrest affidavit. On Nov.

2, detectives observed a 2003 Ford Econoline van matching the description of the suspect vehicle inside a secure parking lot area of a North Penn School District facility in the 600 block of West Eighth Street in Lansdale. Detectives observed fresh damage to the van's passenger side hood, which was out of alignment with the passenger side front fender and grill, according to the criminal complaint.

The passenger side headlight also appeared out of alignment, detectives alleged, adding the damage was "consistent with an impact on the front passenger's side of the vehicle." School officials told detectives one of the groundskeepers had used the van, which was an older spare vehicle, on Oct.

27 because his assigned vehicle was being repaired at a local repair shop. School officials advised Shaw was the person driving the van on Oct.

27 and that Shaw had been scheduled to cut grass at the Pennfield Middle School that day, according to court documents. Detectives noted that Pennfield Middle School is located at 726 Forty Foot Road in Hatfield, about 1 1/2 miles from the 700 block of Oak Park Road where Michener was struck. Investigators obtained video surveillance footage from the school district's support services building in the 600 block of West Eighth Street in Lansdale and from Pennfield Middle School in Lansdale that captured Shaw operating the van on Oct.

27, according to the criminal complaint. According to the video footage, the van did not have damage when Shaw retrieved the vehicle at 7:26 a.m. at the Lansdale facility. However, when Shaw returned to the facility at 3:11 p.m. "there is clearly damage to the front hood area of the vehicle" that was not there earlier in the day, according to the arrest affidavit.

"The investigation of the crash found Mr. Shaw had operated his vehicle with careless disregard for the safety of other persons or property," Summerfield and Peck alleged in the arrest affidavit, adding there were no sight or other obstructions that would have prohibited Shaw from seeing Michener as he walked on the roadway. After striking Michener, Shaw fled the scene and failed to provide the required information or render aid to Michener and he failed to report the crash to township police, detectives alleged.

At the time of Shaw's arrest in January, North Penn School District officials posted a statement on the district's website indicating the district "is fully cooperating with local law enforcement regarding a criminal investigation involving one of our employees, a school district maintenance vehicle, and a tragic event," and offered condolences to the victim's family.