Delco prosecutor arrested in hit and run of teen

A Delaware County assistant district attorney who was arrested yesterday for the hit and run of a teenager in Upper Darby this month had been drinking at a bar prior to the crash, according to court documents.

Michael Donohue, 31, of Havertown, had five years with the Delaware County District Attorney's Office before he resigned last week in the midst of the investigation, according to police and prosecutors.

Around 10:30 p.m. Nov. 4, the 14-year-old victim was on a skateboard when he was hit on Township Line Road near Bryan, police said. The driver of the striking vehicle fled the scene by going the wrong way down a one-way road, police said.

Once he was about 30 yards down the one-way road, a witness saw the driver get out of his car and check on the front of the vehicle, Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said. The driver then got back in his car and fled at a high rate of speed down the one-way road, never checking on the boy, according to police.

The victim, a freshman at Haverford High School, was inititally in critical condition but is now recovering at home, Chitwood said.

Police were led to Donohue by an unidentified witness who was on the phone with him at the time of the accident, according to court documents. That witness was one of seven people who allegedly told police they saw Donohue at a local bar drinking beer after work and before the accident. One witness estimated he was at the bar with Donohue for just under six hours, court documents said.

Chitwood declined to say if any of the witnesses were other members of the district attorney's office.

On Nov. 6, police went to the Roxborough house of one of Donohue's family members where they found the vehicle suspected to have been involved in the accident, court records said.

Donohue "lawyered up" immediately and resigned from his position with the district attorney's office the following Wednesday, Chitwood said.

Donohue has been charged with accidents involving death or personal injury, reckless driving, aggravated assault and related offenses.

Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green has referred the case to the Attorney General's Office, according to a brief statement from his office.