Fatal crash claimed life of longtime educator and grandfather
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times
Harry Ernst, a longtime educator, was killed last November in a crash on Rt. 202 after Jose A. Jaimes went through a red light.
During a brief but emotional hearing, a 20-year-old New Garden Township man pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle and related offenses today in connection with a fatal crash in November.
Under the terms of a plea agreement accepted by Chester County Court Judge David F. Bortner, Jose A. Jaimes will serve three to 12 months in prison for causing the crash that killed Harry Ernst, 81, of West Chester, a father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
One of Ernst’s daughters, Ilana Ernst, had planned to read a victim-impact statement but was too distraught and handed the paper to Assistant District Attorney Max O’Keefe. Ilana Ernst, who shared a residence with her daughter and her father, was a passenger in her father’s car on Nov. 7 when Jaimes ran a red light on Rt. 202 at the Stetson Middle School, crashing into the Ernsts’ vehicle, court records said.
“The impact of the crash was horrific,” the letter said, describing the unspeakable pain of “watching my dad pass away right next to me.” The letter said she left her job last month in part because her travel route took her past the same intersection, forcing her to “relive the accident.”
Jaimes, who was represented by attorneys Thomas K. Schindler and Jordan Ludwick, apologized to half a dozen members of the Ernst family who attended the proceeding. “I’m terribly sorry,” he said, adding that he believed the victim “was in a better place.”
Because O’Keefe did not object, the judge agreed to permit Jaimes to begin his sentence on Oct. 26, three days after he graduates from automotive school. Jaimes was also ordered to pay more than $17,000 restitution for funeral and medical expenses for the Ernst family.
Harry Ernst, a graduate of Kutztown University and father of two daughters and a son, taught biology at Haverford High School, worked an an EMT with Good Fellowship Ambulance, and was a regular fixture at the front desk of many local fitness clubs in the West Chester area, according to his obituary. This year, the first-ever Harry Ernst Scholarship will be awarded to a graduating Haverford High School senior who is accepted to a post-secondary education program in secondary education or the natural sciences.
After the hearing, Dawson “Rich” Muth, an attorney for the Ernst family, said family members, who have been consumed with grief over the loss of their loved one, were gracious in accepting the realization that homicide by vehicle does not carry a lengthy prison term. “Even though there’s a horrendous result, it’s not an intentional act, and the sentencing guidelines reflect that,” Muth said.
