PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Murder charges have been filed against a New Jersey woman accused of hitting and killing a Lower Merion firefighter on I-76 in July.
Jacqueline Walker, 63 from Little Egg Harbor Township, was driving a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee with brakes so bad they barely worked, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele. He said only three of the four brakes functioned.
"Evidence revealed also that she knew about it," said Steele.
"This crash is every first responder's worst nightmare."
Steele said that another accident happened around 3:30 a.m. on July 24 on the Schuylkill Expressway between Gladwyne and Conshohocken.
According to Steele, Walker went around cones set up to merge the right lane into the left lane. Steele said she went onto the shoulder and around a fire truck with its lights on.
"She plows through an active emergency zone, an active emergency zone, and she injures three first responders and kills another that has led us to charge third-degree murder in this case," said Steele.
"This is not something that anybody should not have seen and should not have known to slow down for."
Lower Merion firefighter Thomas Royds was killed. The crash also injured two other firefighters and a State Police trooper who had responded to the initial accident.
Steele said Walker hit a car on the shoulder so hard it was pushed about 30 feet.
She had been driving for about three hours and was pulled over three times in New Jersey, telling police she was lost. They each gave her directions and a warning.
Walker had been charged with DUI, but that dropped after toxicology showed she was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
