Man Who Killed 96-Year-Old Guilty of Careless Driving

A Northampton County judge upheld a summary trial conviction of a South Whitehall Township man who, while driving his Jeep, fatally struck a 96-year-old man crossing Main Street in Bethlehem in January, according to published reports.

Theodore S. Goodman, 22, was again found guilty Thursday of careless driving and failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. He faces $700 in fines and a license suspension of six months and 10 days, according to The Morning Call.

District Judge Roy Manwaring found Goodman guilty of both charges in June, but Goodman appealed and could appeal Judge Emil Giordano’s ruling to Superior Court, the newspaper reported.

Joseph Dabrowski was crossing at Main and Raspberry streets, near the Monocacy Tower senior citizens high rise where he lives, when Goodman’s car struck him, according to the Lehigh County Coroner. He died a half-hour later.

Dabrowski was a retired carpenter who emigrated from Poland to the United States after World War II. He was captured and imprisoned by Germans while fighting for his native country during the war.

Goodman’s attorney tried to argue that his client was not culpable and that he had only looked at his GPS momentarily before the accident occurred, according to The Express Times. Giordano wasn’t buying it.

"I don't understand how if you only glanced at your GPS you didn't see a man in his walker followed by a woman in a wheelchair," the newspaper quoted the judge as saying. "This wasn't a jackrabbit that dashed in front of your car. This was a man in a walker."