Fatal Hit-&-Run Guilty Plea & Sentencing: ‘No Winners In This Case’

Not long before Jason Smith was run over and suffered fatal injuries in the parking lot of the McDonald’s along Route 13 in Bristol Township earlier this year, he sent a text message to his fiancee Elise Gillin.

On Wednesday, Gillin read that text before the sentencing of the man who fatally ran over her boyfriend.

“I want to hold your hand at 80 and say we made it,” Smith wrote to his fiancee.

Gillin told the court she later learned the love of her life – Smith, 47, of Levittown – had been run over and was in rough shape in the hospital.

“A part of my heart died with Jason that day,” she said.

The man who struck Smith –  Daniel Dietrich, 46, of Palmyra, New Jersey – bowed his head as friends and family of Smith read their statements into the record.

Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Raymond McHugh sentenced Dietrich to 12 to 24 years in state prison.

Prior to being sentenced, Dietrich admitted to the actions that led to Smith’s death. He pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, accidents involving death or personal injury, accidents involving death or injury while not licensed and driving on a suspended driver’s license.

The guilty plea was part of a deal worked on by defense attorney Steven Jones and Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub.

“There are no winners in this case,” Jones said. “There are only losers.”

McHugh noted the emotional nature of the sentencing in court.

“I not only lost my dad, but I lost a huge part of me that I will never get back,” said Casey Smith, the victim’s daughter and mother to his three grandchildren.

“My father didn’t deserve to have his life taken from him and us,” the victim’s daughter stated.

Linda Smith, the victim’s mother, said Dietrich “had a choice and he took our son from us.”

“We will never see our three sons together again,” she added.

Friends and family spoke of Smith’s loving nature and his good spirit.

Dietrich ran over and killed Smith, who recently moved from Easton to Levittown, in the parking lot of the McDonald’s in his Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck on the late afternoon of February 5. Detectives said Dietrich was behind the wheel and fled the scene without alerting authorities he hit a person.

The two men were involved in a rolling road-rage incident that began along Route 13 before the two men in separate vehicles arrived at the McDonald’s restaurant, according to the investigation into the hit-and-run fatal crash.

Security camera footage showed Dietrich following Smith into the McDonald’s parking lot from the Haines Road entrance off Route 13, authorities said.

Dietrich blocked the entrance for other vehicles by pulling his truck along Smith’s Nissan’s right side and stopped there moments later, according to authorities.

Smith tried to move forward, but Dietrich swung his truck in front of him, blocking his car, authorities said.

Dietrich maneuvered his truck in front of Smith, blocking Smith’s possible forward motion. He then backed into a parking spot, so that the front of his truck is angled toward the north side of the parking lot and away from where he entered the McDonald’s parking lot.

The video showed that Smith pulled up to the curb, parked, got out, and went to his trunk to get a construction-style hammer. Smith started to get close to the front of Dietrich’s truck, but when he did, Dietrich accelerated in his direction and slammed into the man who was holding the hammer, authorities said.

Smith was knocked to the ground by the truck’s front side. Smith was run over by both the front and rear driver’s side wheels of Dietrich’s vehicle as the New Jersey man continued to make the sharp left turn, authorities said.

Without slowing down, Dietrich in his pickup truck exited the McDonald’s parking lot and went onto Route 13 in the direction of Tullytown Borough, authorities said.

Investigators said Smith suffered “major injuries” and was taken to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital in Philadelphia. He was pronounced dead.

A tip led to the arrest of Dietrich in New Jersey weeks after the incident.

Dietrich, a father, described the road-rage incident and what happened at the McDonald’s eatery. He said he saw Smith grab what he thought was a crowbar, pipe, or hammer and approach, according to authorities.

Dietrich explained to detectives he didn’t call the police because his driver’s license was suspended.

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