LODD: EMT struck by car dies

[M.Bush]

More will be coming out about this incident....I hope he gets beat up while in prison. I don't know when I've been so angry; not since 9-11. I can't put it into words.

That POS is already out on bail......... He'll be able to spend Christmas with his family and friends, while the Smith family will be without Michelle..

[Rusty]

That POS is already out on bail......... He'll be able to spend Christmas with his family and friends, while the Smith family will be without Michelle..

Wow... ain't that a kick in the head? I wonder what his *connections* are - I can't wait to find out.



Joseph M. Taye Jr., a paraplegic, was charged in a similar hit-and-run crash in Maryland in November 2007.

[M.Bush]

The bail was only set at $37,000......

[Kid Lester]

He already got away with seriously injuring people last year.

WTF is he doing driving, anyway. Revoked license and has to drive with a stick to press the pedals?

[Rusty]

The bail was only set at $37,000......

VERY interesting...

[Tracy]

doesn't this belong in "Dude WTF?"

Also....I must be missing something, but how the hell does a parapelegic get away fast enough to get in another car and someone not stop him?

[M.Bush]

He already got away with seriously injuring people last year.

WTF is he doing driving, anyway. Revoked license and has to drive with a stick to press the pedals?

True..
They said they were unable to prove that it was him behind the wheel and all they found was a stick (similiar to the one found Saturday night) and a wheel chair in the backseat..... Uhm, DUH??!? Doesn't take a genius to put two and two together......

[Rusty]

It's the Holiday season... time for Joseph Taye to mow down a few more people... Happy Holidays

[19720]

Beat him with said stick.... then put him in the middle of Rte 13....Let me run over him.....

as you may or may not see.....
I have no remorse for someone who does this.....
UI have also considered siting in front of this idiots house in bear with a sign that says "A KILLER LIVES HERE!"

[wendy]

I know that this is probably just my way of making peace with this on some level, but in my heart I believe that what goes around, comes around, and some day, in some manner, this POS will get everything back and then some.

But I'm also not opposed to the idea of sitting in front of his house like Zip said. I'll take second shift, and maybe third.

[Rusty]

I know that this is probably just my way of making peace with this on some level, but in my heart I believe that what goes around, comes around, and some day, in some manner, this POS will get everything back and then some.

But I'm also not opposed to the idea of sitting in front of his house like Zip said. I'll take second shift, and maybe third.

Road trip??? That way I can meet everybody for a good cause...

[Summerrain]

I know that this is probably just my way of making peace with this on some level, but in my heart I believe that what goes around, comes around, and some day, in some manner, this POS will get everything back and then some.

But I'm also not opposed to the idea of sitting in front of his house like Zip said. I'll take second shift, and maybe third.

His day will come - probably not in court, but I am like you... KARMA is amazing!

[lewin]

Suspect involved in similar Md. crash

Police think paraplegic used stick to drive car

By TERRI SANGINITI • The News Journal • December 24, 2008
A year ago, paraplegic Joseph M. Taye Jr. was involved in a hit-and-run crash in Maryland that left two women injured, one seriously.

When Elkton police found the wrecked silver 2004 BMW after that late-night crash Nov. 30, 2007, they discovered "a 4-foot-long, skinny wooden stick in the rear seat," according to the police report.
Delaware state police found a similar stick Saturday, inside the same silver 2004 BMW, after a crash on U.S. 13 that killed Delaware City firefighter Michelle Smith.
In both crashes, investigators suspect Taye was using the stick to operate the brake and gas pedals of the car, which was not equipped with hand controls or other adaptive devices that would allow a person whose legs are paralyzed to drive. Taye's driver's license had been revoked.
"It's only a hunch, but it's plausible," said Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh, a state police spokesman. "We are looking into that possibility and we have yet to determine if the evidence gathered will support that theory."
Police say there was only one person in the BMW, which was abandoned at the crash scene Saturday. State police found the wooden stick by the open right front passenger door, according to court records.
Alcoholic beverage bottles were in the front passenger area and a wheelchair was in the rear seat, police said in court records. Fingerprints taken from the car matched Taye's, Whitmarsh said.
Taye, 28, who lives in the 600 block of Belgian Drive in Rolling Meadows in Bear, was charged late Monday with manslaughter, second-degree assault, driving while revoked, leaving the scene of a crash and failure to report a crash in the Saturday night accident that killed Smith and left 30-year-old motorcyclist Edward Reiss hospitalized in critical condition. Smith had been tending to Reiss, who was involved in another crash minutes earlier, when she and Reiss were struck by the BMW.
Taye was released from Young Correctional Institution Tuesday after posting $37,000 bail.
Shooting caused paralysis

Taye was paralyzed from the waist down in July 2005 after he was shot in an attack outside a bar in the Big Elk Mall in Elkton.
Taye has a lengthy criminal record in Maryland and a May 2005 conviction in Delaware for firearm possession by a person prohibited and resisting arrest, according to court records.
In the November 2007 hit-and-run, Elkton police have not proven that Taye was driving the car.
Elkton police Lt. Matthew Donnelly said the crash there bears similarities to the one near New Castle.
"There was a stick in the car and we believe that [Taye] might have been driving with it," Donnelly said. "He obviously wasn't going to admit that he was driving."
A witness told police that she saw a man crawling out of the car and thought he was injured.
Taye's girlfriend initially told police she was driving the car before changing her story and telling the officer her boyfriend was at the wheel, according to the police report.
The victims of that hit-and-run said the BMW made a left turn in front of them at the intersection of Augustine Herman Highway and Whitehall Road. One victim suffered a broken collarbone while the other, Cristal Pulgini, 28, lost her front teeth, suffered a broken nose, five fractures to her face and a tear in her cornea, her mother, Carol Pulgini, said.
Cristal Pulgini has undergone eight surgeries to her mouth and eye.
"We were more fortunate," Carol Pulgini said. "At least she wasn't a fatality. That's why our hearts go out to the Smith family."
Elkton police charged Taye with failure to immediately stop the vehicle at the scene of an accident involving bodily injury and driving with a revoked license.
At an Oct. 17 court hearing, the state couldn't prove that Taye was driving the car and stayed the case, Pulgini said.
"We have been fighting this for a year," Pulgini said. "I told them, 'What are you waiting for, for him to kill somebody? Then it's going to be too late.' "
Calls to Cecil County Deputy State's Attorney Michael Halter or to Taye's defense attorney, Edward Rollins III, were not returned Tuesday.
Delaware state police continue searching for a light-colored Honda Accord seen pulling up at the scene minutes after the crash, Whitmarsh said.
The Honda driver helped Taye into his car and took off, leaving the BMW at the crash scene.
Police are asking anyone with information on the driver's identity to call detectives at Troop 2 at 834-2620, ext. 0, or Delaware Crime Stoppers at (800) TIP-3333.
Contact Terri Sanginiti at 324-2771 or tsanginiti@delawareonline.com.



Joseph M. Taye Jr., a paraplegic, was charged in a similar hit-and-run crash in Maryland in November 2007.

[lewin]

Wtf how does a paralized person who cannot work afford a bmw let alone have the ability to post a $37,000 bail????

[Jessica]

Two BMWs, right?

That's assuming that his first BMW that he wrecked and abandoned wasn't returned to him. Especially since he wouldn't admit driving it.

Furthermore, how can you afford a BMW and not take the time to have it equipped with hand controls??? A stick? A freaking stick? You have got to be kidding me.

This shit is making me furious.

[lewin]

way i read it, it was the SAME car

"Delaware state police found a similar stick Saturday, inside the same silver 2004 BMW, after a crash on U.S. 13 that killed Delaware City firefighter Michelle Smith"

[Jessica]

way i read it, it was the SAME car

"Delaware state police found a similar stick Saturday, inside the same silver 2004 BMW, after a crash on U.S. 13 that killed Delaware City firefighter Michelle Smith"

Ahh, that's even MORE ridiculous. A car that was involved in a crime, where he may or may not have been driving, that was not fashioned with hand controls, wasn't impounded?

I don't know what the procedure for this kind of thing is, but holy shit, that's stunning.

[Decent]

What gets me, this guy is going to continually do these things and get away with it unless he's locked up. He won't be locked up because he's a parapalegic, at least not in a prison anyway. But maybe for awhile in a prison hospital. When he gets back out, and he won't be in long, he'll just be doing this stuff all over again. Dude needs to just die, save some lives in the process. I hope a family member or friend of one of his victims puts a bullet in his head.
Dude's going on my list of people I'd wanna 'take care of' if I ever got to the point where I had nothing left to lose.

[Crabby]

Right now I can't write what's on my mind, I'm still too angry. I'll try to redirect my feelings to honoring Michelle for now. Delaware City has established a trust fund for her daughter Emily. If you are interested in seeing photos or want any more information, go to wwwdcfc15.com

[lewin]

Murder charge in firefighter's death

Joseph M. Taye Jr. re-arrested, being held without bail

By TERRI SANGINITI • The News Journal • December 31, 2008

A man allegedly involved in a hit-and-run crash last week that injured a motorcyclist and killed a Delaware City firefighter has been charged with murder.


State police detectives Tuesday re-arrested Joseph M. Taye Jr., 28, of the 600 block of Belgian Drive, Bear, charging him with first-degree murder in the death of 30-year-old Michelle Smith and first-degree assault for injuries to motorcyclist Edward Reiss, 30, of New Castle, who Smith was helping at the scene of a Dec. 20 accident.
Those charges, announced late Tuesday, were upgraded from the less serious charges of manslaughter and second-degree assault Taye initially faced when he was arrested and jailed last week.
Taye, who also faces charges of driving with a revoked license, leaving the scene of a crash and failing to report a crash, initially posted his $37,000 bail and was released the day after his arrest. He now is being held without bail on the new charges in Young Correctional Institution.
Cpl. Gary Fournier, a state police spokesman, said the state attorney general reviewed the original manslaughter charges and upgraded them to murder, because Taye recklessly caused Smith's death while she was "performing her official duty." Delaware law permits the first-degree murder charge in cases where a law-enforcement officer, corrections employee or firefighter is killed in the line of duty.
A spokesman for the attorney general's office would not explain why Taye was not charged originally with first-degree murder, based on that law, saying the office does not comment on pending cases.
Reiss, who suffered severe internal injuries, remains hospitalized in Christiana Hospital in serious but stable condition, Fournier said.
According to police, Taye was at the wheel of his girlfriend's 2004 silver BMW on Dec. 20, driving south at a high speed on U.S. 13, when he sideswiped a marked county police car stationed at the scene of a motorcycle crash Reiss was involved in.
He allegedly lost control of the car and plowed into Reiss and Smith, who was on the ground attending to Reiss' injuries.
Taye then reportedly stopped the BMW on the right shoulder of the highway beyond the crash site, where a light-colored Honda Accord pulled alongside the BMW. A passenger in the Honda allegedly pulled Taye, who is paraplegic, out of the BMW and put him in the Honda, and sped away, police said.
Detectives still are searching for the Honda and the occupants.
Smith, the mother of a 12-year-old daughter and a volunteer firefighter for the Delaware City and the Volunteer Hose Company of Middletown fire companies, was taken to Christiana Hospital, where she died two days later.
A viewing for Smith is scheduled for Sunday from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Delaware City Fire Company Memorial Hall, 815 Fifth St., Delaware City.
Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Monday in the fire hall immediately followed by a firefighter honor ceremony and procession to Smyrna's Odd Fellows Cemetery.
Taye is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Jan. 9 in New Castle County Municipal Court.
According to police records in Elkton, Md., Taye is suspected of driving the same silver BMW in a Nov. 30, 2007, hit-and-run crash that injured two women, one seriously.
In the wreckage of that accident, police recovered a 4-foot-long, thin wooden stick, which Taye apparently used to operate the gas and brake pedals because he is paralyzed from the waist down.
Police said the vehicle was not equipped for a handicapped driver.
Taye, meanwhile, was not allowed to be driving because his driver's license is revoked in Delaware.