Man Charged in Connection with Fatal Vehicle-Pedestrian Crash in Bellefonte

State police at Rockview on Monday charged a Howard man who allegedly fled the scene after striking a pedestrian in a fatal crash last summer in Bellefonte.

Brandon Scot Deitz, 36, is accused of hitting Stephanie Wilson with his 2007 Dodge Ram pickup truck at about 8 a.m. on July 22, 2020 near the intersection of West High and North Allegheny streets.

The 36-year-old Wilson died of head trauma and Centre County Coroner Scott Sayers ruled her death accidental.

Deitz is charged with accident involving victim’s death, a second-degree felony. He also faces five summary charges.

According to a criminal complaint, a witness told police she saw a red truck strike Wilson. Several minutes later a woman contacted police on Deitz’s behalf and officers met with him at a Bellefonte residence.

Deitz allegedly said he stopped his truck on West High Street after hitting a pedestrian and “attempted to give aid, but became ‘scared and nervous’ so he left the scene…” He went to the nearby residence, where he requested the woman call 911, police wrote.

He told investigators he did not see Wilson when he struck her and did not feel an impact but that he saw her to the left of his truck as he drove by where she was lying on the road, according to the complaint.

An accident reconstruction concluded Deitz was driving 22 to 23 mph when he struck Wilson, police wrote. The reconstruction also allegedly found that bandanas hanging from the rearview mirror partially obstructed the view through the windshield and that Wilson may not have been visible to Deitz as she walked into the path of the vehicle.

The reconstruction also concluded that Deitz applied the brakes and brought the truck to an almost immediate stop upon impact.

Deitz was arraigned on Monday morning before District Judge Kelley Gillette-Walker, who set unsecured bail at $50,000.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 14.