A Morrisville man with a prior DUI conviction was arrested late Sunday evening for an April crash in which he allegedly struck a 12-year-old boy riding a bike.
Steven Vansant, 4200 block of Darby Drive in the Morrisville section of Falls Township, was preliminarily arraigned early Sunday by on-call District Judge Terrence Hughes on felony counts of leaving the scene of an accident involving death or injury, DUI, and related summary offenses. Bail was posted at 10 percent of $25,000.00.
According to Falls Twp Police, officers were dispatched to Penn Valley and Wheatsheaf Road for a hit-and-run report, involving a young man riding a bike and a white Chevrolet Escalade.
The bike rider was transported to St. Mary’s after being struck by the Escalade, said police in the probable cause.
Upon further investigation, police learned Vansant was the motorist operating the Escalade when it struck the child and fled the area, officers wrote in court records. Officers responded to Vansant’s residence and observed the described Escalade with a passenger side flat tire and front-end damage to the vehicle.
Vansant, according to police, admitted to being the vehicle driver when speaking with police. He arrived at his residence driving a motorcycle. Allegedly he told police he knew he had hit someone. Officers asked if he had been drinking prior to the hit-and-run, which Vansant denied.
While interviewing the suspect, police noted in the probable cause the odor of alcohol coming from Vansant. They asked him if he would voluntarily consent to a blood draw, to which he agreed. The blood draw results were not included in the court filing.
In late 2009 Vansant pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of DUI, reckless driving and related offenses and was sentenced to county jail. In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania there is a 10-year “look back” timeframe for individuals charged with DUI offenses. Vansant’s arrest is well beyond the 10 year window and he was charged as a first time offender.
Vansant is scheduled to appear in district court on July 16. He has no attorney of record listed, according to online court records.
The condition of the 12-year-old child riding the bike that was struck is unknown as of publication time.
