(Defense closing statement, Record at 43:21-24) In charging the jury, the trial court told the jurors that they were the sole judges of the credibility of all witnesses and that they must apply the same standard in evaluating the testimony of police officers as they did to that of any other witness. (Transcript at 111a) He claimed, however, that his head injury was sufficiently severe to render him unable (independently of the alcohol) intentionally to leave the scene of the accident. At trial, he admitted that he had been intoxicated. (Transcript at 71a, 87-88a)Īppellant was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of an accident. (Transcript at 11a-16a 64a-70a) After the police arrested appellant, they took him to a nearby hospital where the staff closed a cut on his forehead with four stitches and x-rayed his skull. They found him approximately one-quarter of a mile from the accident scene, alternately running, walking, and hitchhiking along a four-lane highway toward Ohio, where he lived. The police arrived within five to ten minutes and, following bystanders' directions, followed appellant's footprints in the snow. Following the collision, appellant climbed from the window of his car and ran from the scene. He was hospitalized for forty-nine days and was permanently injured. Stroup was thrown from the van by the force of the collision and suffered a fractured skull. On December 31, 1981, appellant, heavily intoxicated, drove his car through an intersection in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and collided with a van driven by John Stroup, who was on his way home from work. 3 We find that on the particular facts, the error, if any, worked no injustice, and we therefore affirm the judgment of sentence. 2 The only issue is whether the trial court's comments on the evidence in the charge to the jury constituted reversible error. This is an appeal from judgment of sentence for driving under the influence of alcohol 1 and leaving the scene of an accident involving death or bodily injury.
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