Edgewater Hit-And-Run Victim Got No Justice: Family

EDGEWATER, MD — Caroline Grace Hurley, the woman charged in the hit-and-run death of 19-year-old David Allen Decheubel, Jr. in the spring of 2016, is getting off too easy, according to David's mother. Lisa Saunders, of Texas, says the case was botched.

The accusation stems from the Anne Arundel Circuit Court's decision to reduce Hurley's disposition to "probation before judgement." This means if she doesn't violate her probation, the traffic conviction will be expunged.

Hurley did agree to a statement of facts on one charge, the Baltimore Sun reports: failure to immediately stop a vehicle at the scene of an accident involving a death.

“[David] was found by a garbage man and he was treated like garbage by the state’s attorney,” Saunders said, according to the Sun. “Now, the court system just gave [Hurley] two thumbs up to do it again."

On the night between March 31 and April 1 in 2016, Decheubel was walking home on Central Avenue from his job at a fast food restaurant in Edgewater when he was hit by a car. His body was found in a ditch the next morning by garbage collectors.

Police reports indicate Hurley was drinking the night she allegedly hit and killed Decheubel. She and her attorney claim she did not drink that night, however.

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“Although [the family] disagreed with our decision to resolve the case through a plea, my office has made every effort to include the family throughout the process. I understand the impact that a death has on a family, and I empathize with them for their loss," said Anne Arundel State's Attorney Wes Adams, the Sun reported, noting it was a difficult case from the start.

The court suspended six of seven charges against Hurley. The State's Attorney's Office did, however, oppose the court's decision to downgrade the conviction, Adams said.

Hurley's husband, Robert Hurley, Jr., said his wife hit a deer. The Edgewater body shop that dealt with Hurley's 2010 Hyundai Elantra, however, said they didn't believe the damage to the care came from a deer, police say.

The manager of the shop said a black mark across the hood looked like it could have come from a shoe. “Never seen that on a deer hit,” he told the Sun. “And we’ve seen hundreds of them.”

An expert later said the damage to the car was "consistent with a pedestrian strike."

The Sun reports the initial police report said the car's damage was consistent with a deer collision, noting “short brown hairs embedded in the fractured glass of the windshield." A DNA test of the hair found it to have come from a white male.

Mabel Saunders, the victim's grandmother, said “In my opinion, she’s getting away with murder."

See more at the Baltimore Sun.

Article image Anne Arundel County Police Department