A Levittown resident has been charged in connection with a fatal crash that occurred in October 2023.
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Thomas W. Kite, 39, of the Levittown section of Bristol Township, was charged with homicide by vehicle while DUI, homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, DUI, and several related offenses. He was preliminarily arraigned Tuesday morning by District Judge Terry Hughes and held on 10 percent of $750,000.
Kite was charged last week for the two-vehicle wreck that killed Joseph Kovacs, 52, of Trenton. The crash took place at the intersection of Mill Creek Parkway and Haines Road around 11:12 p.m. on October 19, 2023.
According to the Bristol Township police, the crash involved Kite’s white 2013 BMW 128i, which struck Kovacs’ blue 2008 Chevrolet Impala from behind. The Impala was stopped at a red light on Haines Road at the time.
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After the impact, the Impala was pushed approximately 87 feet into the intersection before coming to rest in the westbound lane, , and the BMW traveled about 47 feet post-collision and stopped just beyond the intersection’s stop line, police said.
Kovacs was transported to Jefferson-Torresdale Hospital in Philadelphia by the Levittown-Fairless Hills Rescue Squad, but he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
An autopsy revealed that Kovacs died from multiple blunt impact injuries, according to a report from the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office.
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Police at the scene noted an odor of alcohol on Kite, who admitted to drinking alcohol and using marijuana prior to the crash, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by an investigator.
Field sobriety tests conducted at the scene indicated that Kite was severely impaired, police said.
A toxicology report later confirmed a blood alcohol content of 0.270, above the legal limit, and the presence of marijuana in Kite’s system, police said.
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Police alleged in court papers that Kite had spent several hours drinking numerous alcoholic beverages at a nearby bar, a Levittown home, and again at the bar before the crash, police said.
Steve Mawhinney, a former police chief and crash reconstruction expert with the Bucks County Crash Investigation Team, determined that Kite’s vehicle was traveling between 79 and 106 MPH at the time of the crash. His report concluded that Kite’s excessive speed and failure to stop at a red light, combined with his impaired condition, were direct causes of the fatal crash, police said.
According to court papers, the crash was not Kite’s first encounter with DUI, as he was in a first-time offender program for a DUI within the last ten years.
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Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
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