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HANOVER TWP. — A woman from Newport Township surrendered Thursday on charges she fled the scene after striking a 36-year-old man who died on the Sans Souci Parkway earlier this year.
Lisa Marie Yurkin, 52, of West Kirmar Street, was charged with accidents involving death after an investigation by township police and state police at Wyoming.
Authorities allege Yurkin, operating a 2002 Ford Explorer, struck Jason Filip in the area of the UFCW Federal Credit Union on Feb. 24. Filip died at the scene.
Authorities did not charge Yurkin until now because there is only one state police crime lab in Pennsylvania — in Greensburg near Pittsburgh — capable of analyzing DNA forensic evidence. Authorities were waiting on results from that lab.
Yurkin surrendered on the charge at District Judge Joseph Halesey’s office, where she was arraigned on the second-degree felony count and released on $25,000 unsecured bail. She was not represented by an attorney at the arraignment.
Court documents do not list an attorney for Yurkin.
Yurkin did not comment when approached by reporters.
Filip, of Hanover Township, attended a cancer benefit for a friend at a reception hall on Fellows Avenue, Hanover Township, the evening of Feb. 24. He left the reception hall and went to Six Strings Saloon on Sans Souci Parkway, arriving at about 9:30 p.m.
Bartenders told investigators they believed Filip consumed three beers before leaving at about 11:30 p.m. Six Strings Saloon is next to the credit union.
Two people leaving the credit union’s parking lot found Filip when the headlights from their vehicle shined on the body. They called 911 at about 12:15 a.m. Feb. 25.
According to a criminal complaint:
Yurkin walked into township police headquarters at about 6:50 p.m. Feb. 25, claiming she was the driver of the vehicle that struck Filip.
During an interview with detectives, Yurkin claimed she spent the day with a friend in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, and consumed four beers earlier in the day. She left a friend’s house in West Pittston and while traveling south on the parkway, she heard a “thump” in the area of the saloon and believed she struck a deer or another animal.
Yurkin denied she was intoxicated while driving. She arrived home and noticed her Ford was damaged.
Yurkin claimed she fell asleep and when she woke up, she learned from her boyfriend she was involved in a hit-and-run crash in Hanover Township.
Yurkin surrendered her Ford to police hours after Filip’s body was found. Township police obtained a search warrant to examine the Ford, allegedly finding clothing fibers, blood spatter and hair particles from Filip.
