SCRANTON -- A Lackawanna County courtroom was packed Wednesday afternoon as witnesses and police testified about a crash that killed a pedestrian earlier this year.
The driver is accused of fleeing the scene and faces serious charges.
Betty Sawkulich of Scranton, a mother of seven, died a few days after she was hit by a car on South Main Avenue back in February.
A preliminary hearing for the woman accused of hitting her, Tiffany Timko of Hazleton, was held on Wednesday.
Timko's case is now headed to trial.
From the witness stand, a Good Samaritan described what she heard and then what she saw on South Main Avenue in Scranton on February 4: a thud, and then a person lying in the road, the car that hit the person continuing in the other direction.
She stopped and then stayed with the victim, Betty Sawkulich, until police arrived. Sawkulich died days later in the hospital.
"At least somebody was decent enough," said Nancy Manetti, the victim's aunt. "I want to thank her. At least somebody stopped and made sure that nobody else hit her. And that was the decent thing for her to do."
Sawkulich's family came to the Lackawanna County Courthouse for the preliminary hearing for the suspected hit and run driver.
Tiffany Timko of Hazleton is accused of hitting Betty Sawkulich and then taking off.
Sawkulich's family jeered at her when she left the hearing.
"No sorry to the family? Wow, I can tell your mother raised you right."
According to court papers, Timko told coworkers that a refrigerator fell from a truck and hit her car. She later told police that she knew she hit something but left the scene on South Main Avenue because she did not think she hit a person.
Timko was driving with a suspended license.
"She left the accident scene. She killed somebody, point blank," said the victim's brother-in-law Corey Pacewicz. "She was at least speeding down that road. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I feel like she should at least be charged with vehicular homicide."
Tiffany Timko is charged with fleeing the scene. Investigators say if Timko had stayed, this would most likely be classified as an accident. That's why she is not charged with vehicular homicide. The case is now headed to trial.
