Driver in Charleroi hit-and-run crash that injured boy waives case to court
The woman accused of hitting a pre-teen boy with her car in Charleroi and speeding off before later returning to the scene last month will stand trial on the most serious charge.
Yorgelis A. Matos-Bravo, 29, of Chicago, appeared Thursday morning for her preliminary hearing and waived to court the felony charge of aggravated assault of a child under 13 and one misdemeanor count of accident involving damage in connection with the Aug. 23 incident that injured the boy.
Charleroi Regional police said Matos-Bravo was driving on Fallowfield Avenue when she struck the boy as he was crossing the road near Third Street shortly before 2:30 p.m. Police said Matos-Bravo was speeding when she struck the boy, knocking him to the ground and injuring his head and right arm before speeding off.
Another juvenile witnessed the incident and was able to give investigators the vehicle’s license plate information, which officers used to search nearby surveillance camera videos showing the fleeing motorist. Police matched the vehicle to a car registered in the state of Indiana and began searching for it.
The brother of Matos-Bravo came to the scene and told officers that his sister was the driver and that she was coming back to the scene after stopping at a nearby unidentified park. Matos-Bravo, who investigators previously said is of Mexican descent, returned to the scene and spoke with police through a translation app in which she allegedly admitted to striking the child and leaving the scene.
Police said Matos-Bravo’s vehicle had “hand prints on the hood” with a “significant dent” in the front of the vehicle.
During Thursday’s hearing before District Judge Eric Porter, prosecutors withdrew misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct.
Marcus Martin, who is the defense attorney representing Matos-Bravo, said they are “still getting all the facts together” for the case, but they were happy to get some charges dropped.
“We were able to get some charges withdrawn and we should be getting things moving to the (Court of Common Pleas) level,” Martin said.
The boy’s age and identity have not been made public, but he was with his father at the time of the incident and is under the age of 13, according to court documents. He was treated at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh for non-life threatening injuries, and Martin said investigators said at Wednesday’s hearing that he was released the same day as the incident.
Unable to post $25,000 cash bond, Matos-Bravo is being held at the Washington County jail while she awaits trial.