A Montgomery County man was charged this week in the death of a young woman who allegedly was a passenger on the suspect's ATV at the time it crashed in December into the side of car.
Steven Gismonde, 32, was allegedly drunk at the time of the crash in the early hours of Dec. 24 in Upper Providence, authorities said. A test of his blood alcohol content allegedly showed .135 -- over the limit. Gismonde, of Collegeville, did not have a Pennsylvania license and his New Jersey license was suspended.
Sydney Hunter Stone, 21, was a passenger on the ATV when it crashed into the side of a car at the intersection of Ridge Pike and Greenwood Avenue.
Both Gismonde and Stone were thrown from the ATV. Stone died at a nearby hospital from serious head injuries. Gismonde also suffered serious head trauma. He recovered and was released from the hospital.
On Tuesday, the District Attorney's office arrested and charged him with homicide by vehicles while driving under the influence and related charges. He is being held in Montgomery County Correctional Facility on $100,000 bail.
Pennsylvania has the fourth-highest reported ATV fatality rate in the nation, according to data compiled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Between 1982 and 2015, 697 people were killed in Pa. ATV crashes. Nationwide, over the same time period, children younger than 16 accounted for 22 percent of the 14,129 ATV-related deaths, the CPSC's report showed.
In 2015, the CPSC estimates 97,200 people suffered ATV-related injuries serious enough to send them to the emergency room.
Authorities in Philadelphia, where driving an ATV on the road is illegal, have been cracking down on off-road vehicle use in recent years. Squads of ATV drivers have recorded videos of themselves racing through the city. Last April, police confiscated 60 ATVs and dirt bikes. The month before, they impounded 53.
In December, another ATV rider died in a crash. A 13-year-old driver crashed into a car in Bensalem, Bucks County -- also at night.
Photo Credit: Montgomery Co. District Attorney
