No vehicular homicide charge in pedestrian death

A man who struck and killed a pedestrian south of Dewey Beach July 4 was sentenced to complete a drug and alcohol course and temporarily lost his driver's license.

Matthew T. O'Connor was not charged in the death of Roy E. Love.

After the Fourth of July fireworks show ended in Dewey Beach, the town was dark, traffic was bumper-to-bumper and pedestrians crowded the sidewalks.

O'Connor was driving south on Route 1, just south of Dewey Beach town limits, preparing to merge into a turn lane south of Anchor Way.  Love and his wife, Helene Love, had made it halfway across Route 1 on foot and were standing on a concrete median when they stepped onto the roadway and were struck by O'Connor's Lincoln.

The Loves were taken to Beebe Medical Center where Roy, 79, was pronounced dead.  Helene, 75, was airlifted to Christiana Medical Center in critical condition, but later recovered from the crash.

O'Connor, 26, who was not injured, was taken to Troop 7 in Lewes where he was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and released.

An investigation by Delaware State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit and a review by the Attorney General's Office determined that O'Connor was not legally at fault for the collision, said Department of Justice spokesman Jason Miller.  "The investigation required an assessment of causation and the roles each individual played in the crash; the facts did not support a vehicular homicide charge," Miller said in an email.

O'Connor pleaded guilty to driving under the influence Sept. 3, in Justice of the Peace Court 14 in Georgetown.

"Based on those determinations and the absence of prior record, the defendant was permitted to enter the First Offenders Program, where he will be required to complete a course of instruction to address drug and alcohol issues and will be court-mandated not to drive for at least three months," Miller said.