Princeton Borough resident Herbert Broadway Sr. faces second-degree charge of death by auto.
By: Jennifer Potash
A Mercer County grand jury indicted an elderly Princeton Borough man Friday on a second-degree charge of death by auto stemming from a Nov. 20 accident that took the life of a HomeFront employee in Lawrence Township.
Herbert Broadway Sr., 81, who has been released on bail, also was indicted on one count of leaving the scene of a fatal motor vehicle accident, which is a third-degree charge, said Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
Mr. Broadway struck Mary McGowan, 47, of Levittown, Pa., while she was crossing Princeton Avenue from a parking lot across from the HomeFront office, police said. HomeFront is an advocacy group for the homeless.
After the accident, Mr. Broadway got out of his pickup truck and retrieved pieces of debris from the ground and then drove off, according to witnesses. Based on a description of his truck from witnesses, Mr. Broadway was later stopped by an off-duty State Police officer off Route 1 in West Windsor, according to police.
A blood alcohol test several hours after he was arrested revealed Mr. Broadway had a .09 level, according to police, just below the legal cutoff of .10. Mr. Broadway had to surrender his driver’s license as a condition of bail, which was reduced from $125,000 bail to $50,000 on Nov. 26.
He was also charged by the Lawrence police with driving while intoxicated and that charge will be heard in municipal court.
Mr. Broadway has a lengthy list of motor vehicle violations dating back to 1962, including numerous accidents and several suspensions of his driving privileges, according to state Motor Vehicle Commission records. Mr. Broadway also is blind in one eye and has cataracts in his other eye, according to police.
The indictment was not a surprise, said Robert Obler, defense attorney for Mr. Broadway.
"It’s the next step in the process," he said.
The date for Mr. Broadway’s arraignment, where he will enter his plea to the charges, has not been set, Mr. Obler said.
The maximum sentence on all the charges before the Mercer County Superior Court would be 15 years in prison, Ms. DeBlasio said.