Police: 22-year-old was drunk when he hit tree, killing one passenger, maiming another
Phillip D. Tomsic, 22, faces charges connected to the November fatal crash that police said was alcohol- and speed-related.
A former Lincoln University baseball player has been charged with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and related offenses, authorities said today.
Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said Phillip D. Tomsic, 22, of Grand Junction, Mi., faces charges in connection with the Nov. 11 death of Anthony V. Washington, 22, one of two passengers in a 2004 Chevrolet Impala that Tomsic had borrowed so the trio could get something to eat.
Hogan said Tomsic, a senior pitcher on the university’s baseball team at the time, was traveling 85 miles an hour in a 35 mile-per-hour section of Ashmun Avenue in Lower Oxford Township about 9:30 p.m. when he lost control of the vehicle. Hogan said the Impala struck a tree and became engulfed in flames. Tomsic managed to crawl out of a window, Hogan said, but his two passengers, university seniors Washington and Kadeem Fulmore, were trapped in the burning car. All three were scheduled to graduate this past May, according to university officials.
Hogan said emergency personnel succeeded in extricating Fulmore of Rochester, N.Y., from the wreckage, but Washington, a business major from Forest Hills, N.Y., was pronounced dead at the scene. Hogan said Fulmore lost his right foot and left leg below the knee and suffered a traumatic brain injury for which he remains hospitalized.
Police said the borrowed 2004 Impala became engulfed in flames after striking the tree and trapping two passengers inside on Nov. 11 near Lincoln University.
Tomsic’s blood, which was tested more than two and a half hours after the crash, showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.089; an acquaintance told police that all three occupants of the car had been drinking before the accident, the criminal complaint said.
“An incident like this is every family’s nightmare,” Hogan said. “This case should be a warning to every student in Chester County not to drink and drive. Yo do not want to be the one responsible for killing your friends.”
Tomsic was remanded to Chester County Prison after failing to post $75,000 cash bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday.
