Former Berks County man charged with running over and fatally injuring his fiancee in Reading
May 14—Reading police this week charged a former Shillington man with hit-and-run in the incident that fatally injured his fiancee on Penn Square.
The woman had gotten out of his SUV after an argument, then chased it and hung onto it along Penn Street before falling off and under the vehicle, police said.
Joseph W. Alley, 46, of Las Vegas turned himself in Thursday at the Berks County sheriff's office for booking and arraignment, officials said.
He remained free on $15,000 bail following arraignment before District Judge Tonya A. Butler in Reading Central Court.
Alley faces a felony count of causing an accident involving death or personal injury in the Jan. 8 accident that occurred during a rolling argument with Mirerrah C. Page, 24, of Reading.
Additionally, he is charged with traffic offenses, including failure to notify police of an accident involving injury or death and careless driving causing unintentional death.
According to investigators:
Police were dispatched about 9:30 p.m. to Fifth and Penn streets for a report of a person down.
Officers arrived to find a woman, later identified as Page, lying in the first block of North Fifth, suffering from a severe head injury. She was taken by ambulance to Reading Hospital where she was admitted in critical condition.
Criminal Investigator Joshua Sheller responded.
Witnesses told him that the victim had been running east in the 400 block of Penn behind a silver SUV or truck, which stopped in the left-turn lane at Fifth. The victim caught up to the vehicle and was hitting the window with her hand when the vehicle accelerated quickly and turned left onto North Fifth.
The witnesses said the woman was hanging on the vehicle, fell off during the turn and fell onto the street. The vehicle continued north on Fifth, turning east onto the 500 block of Court.
Sheller went to Reading Hospital and while en route, he was alerted that the victim's fiance had arrived at the hospital.
Sheller spoke to the man, who identified himself as Joseph Alley. He noticed Alley had dried blood on his sweatshirt.
Alley told him that he was driving on Route 422 with Page in a rental vehicle, a silver SUV, when he took the Penn Street exit. As he traveled east on Penn, he and Page had a fight and that's how he got blood on his sweatshirt.
He said he stopped in front of a restaurant on the south side of Penn Street, and Page got out. He said he drove away, leaving her there.
The investigator asked to see the SUV. As they walked to the parking garage, Alley told him that Page chased his vehicle on foot after he dropped her off on Penn Street.
Sheller noticed a large dent on the passenger side front door. Alley said it was not related to the incident on Penn Square, but the investigator noticed displaced dust, as if it had recently been swiped.
Alley agreed to go to City Hall for an interview. When asked to clarify the victim's position in the street, Alley said Page was behind the SUV but not close enough to touch it.
He said he pulled out from the intersection when she was right up on the car because he was afraid she was going to break the window. Alley said he lost sight of her when he made the left turn.
Alley said he continued to Page's home on North Eight Street, hoping she had calmed down and would return home. He said he waited in the SUV for about 15 minutes, then drove home to Shillington.
Video footage obtained from the Santander Bank building at 450 Penn St. contradicted Alley's account.
It shows the SUV approaching Fifth Street and stopping in the left-turn lane where Page caught up to the vehicle. While Page is standing at the passenger side window, the SUV enters the intersection despite having a red light.
Page is seen running along the side of the SUV. She appears to be holding onto the passenger side as the vehicle turns left. She falls, and the rear right tire of the SUV appears to roll over her head.
The SUV continues north on Fifth then right onto Court, the route witnesses described and contrary to Alley's self-reported route.
Page died 11 days later in Reading Hospital. She had been intubated since she was admitted, officials said.
Dr. Neil Hoffman, a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, determined that Page died of crushing head injuries.
