Court documents are shedding new light on a hit-and-run crash that put a Penn Hills man in a coma.
The two-vehicle crash happened in late May in Robinson Township at a busy intersection, Steubenville Pike at Lorish Road.
Rasheem Farmer, 31, was on his way home from work, riding his motorcycle eastbound on Steubenville Pike around 4 p.m. on May 26. Patricia Opferman, 78, was driving a Honda CRV, sitting in the westbound turn lane.
Robinson Township police found that video shows “Opferman failed to perceive and yield the right-of-way.”
Witnesses said she then left the scene.
According to the criminal complaint, Opferman called 911 the day after the crash, “reporting numbness in her hands.”
During the medical run, police said Opferman “voluntarily disclosed that she had been involved in the crash with the motorcyclist the previous day.”
The complaint said the Honda CRV “sustained damage specifically to the rear passenger side quarter panel that was consistent with a rear-end style impact.”
Farmer was thrown from his bike and rushed to the hospital in critical condition with broken bones, broken ribs and several brain bleeds. His family said he was in a coma for 35 days.
“That there, didn’t look like he was coming out of that,” Farmer’s mom Renita Jackson said.
She and Farmer’s girlfriend Jada were by his side day in and day out, hoping he would pull through and unaware of what his life would look like after.
His career as a semi-professional football player is over. He could lose his career as a car mechanic.
His focus right now is learning how to walk again. Mentally and emotionally, he is having a hard time with the loss of independence and the fact that the other driver involved did not stop.
Opferman was charged with several summary offenses and a misdemeanor for accidents involving death or personal injury. The summary offenses include reckless driving and failure to stop. The charges were filed after 11 Investigates spent weeks contacting Robinson Township police and the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office, questioning why charges had not been filed.
“First and foremost, it’s painful,” Farmer said. “You kept going. You drove away. And I was literally on the ground dying.”
The investigation found Farmer tried to avoid the crash. He “applied aggressive braking” and was not driving erratically or speeding at the time of the collision, according to the criminal complaint.
Channel 11 legal expert Phil DiLucente offered his perspective on the case.
“There’s a very thin line between civil liability and criminal culpability,” he explained.
He said prosecutors have discretion in whether to charge a misdemeanor or felony in hit-and-run cases. Felony charges come with stiffer penalties if the person charged is convicted.
“Leaving the scene of an accident is a three to six year mandatory sentence if serious bodily injury and/or death results,” DiLucente said. “It’s a very unforgiving statute, leaving the scene of a crime.”
11 Investigates reached out the district attorney’s office and Robinson Township police once again to give them a chance to comment on this story. Neither responded.
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