Shakim Elias Mendez, 18, of Flourtown, was sentenced to 3 to 6 years in prison for leaving the scene of a crash after he struck and killed 35-year-old Artemio De La Rosa Martinez of Norristown, who was performing landscaping work along a Whitemarsh Township roadway, The Pottstown Mercury reported today.

Mendez was held for trial in March on charges of homicide by vehicle in connection with the crash. He returned to Montgomery County after being arrested in Wilmington, Delaware on February 20.

The afternoon of the incident, Whitemarsh Township Police responded to a 911 call for a report of a vehicle-pedestrian crash. Police arrived at 6011 West Valley Green Road in Flourtown to find the victim deceased and lying on the edge of the northbound lane.

A dark-colored Chevy Malibu with a temporary and fraudulent Delaware license plate was abandoned at the scene. The driver had fled on foot, police said.

Police found Mendez’s wallet inside the vehicle. A crash investigation by Whitemarsh Township Police, Springfield Township Police and Montgomery County Detectives found that Mendez was driving the Malibu southbound at a high rate of speed and in a reckless manner when his vehicle struck Martinez.

“The investigation found that Mendez’s vehicle hit Martinez with such force that he was thrown 168 feet from the point of impact,” officials said in a statement. “The force of the impact was so severe that one of Martinez’s shoes was found stuck in a tree 36 feet above the ground.”

A post-crash inspection of the vehicle revealed that the Malibu was traveling between 68 and 70 miles per hour. West Valley Green Road has a posted speed of 25 miles per hour.

The rest of the backstory is here.

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Photo: Montco DA