Man held for trial in April fatal hit-run of toddler

ONE MOMENT, 2-year-old David Alicea Jr. was by his mom's side as she was putting his sweater in the car before they were to get in and go out to eat.

The next moment, the toddler rushed out into the street.

"Do not cross the street," the mom, Josephine Rivera, 20, testified yesterday that she told her son.

Rivera said she saw a white Infiniti moving fast down her block, on Mascher Street near Lehigh Avenue, in Fairhill.

"I [moved] so the car could hit me, not him," Rivera testified forlornly of her only child.

The car hit Rivera, then 19, who suffered a fractured skull and other injuries. It also hit her son, who died three days later at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children.

As Rivera testified, the young man accused of driving the car that smashed into them about 7 p.m. April 13 sat at the defense table looking smug.

Miguel Colon, 22, of Philadelphia, who has tattoos on his neck and arms, at times leaned back in his chair and stared at prosecution witnesses, smirked and made hand gestures during witness testimony in his 2 1/2-hour preliminary hearing.

He was held for trial yesterday by Municipal Judge Patrick Dugan on all charges - homicide by vehicle, accident involving death, involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault by vehicle.

Rivera didn't see who was driving the vehicle. When her son rushed into the street, she said, she grabbed him, and that's when they were hit.

She lost consciousness and woke up at Temple University Hospital. On April 16, she said, she was at St. Christopher's, where her son was transferred from Temple, "when they took him off the machines."

Assistant District Attorney Thomas Lipscomb also presented a nine-minute sequence of video clips showing what authorities say was the white Infiniti before and after the crash.

About 6:45 p.m., a white car is seen parked on Wishart Street near Front in Fairhill with a male driver who resembled Colon. There is a front-seat passenger. The driver speaks with various people who approach the car before driving east on Wishart, crossing Front.

Shortly afterward, a white car is seen speeding on Mascher Street near Lehigh Avenue - a residential block of homes where Rivera and her son were hit.

In a corner of the video, testified Homicide Detective Thorsten Lucke, one sees a "small person trying to cross the street as the vehicle passes."

The white car then turns and about five minutes later returns to Wishart Street near Front, Lucke said. Two people get out.

Lucke noted in the videos that the car had damage to its front driver's side, which it did not have before the time of the crash.

The owner of the white Infiniti that was allegedly involved in the crash was also called to the witness stand.

Antoine Davis, 38, is the boyfriend of Colon's sister, Angelie Lopez. He is in custody on unrelated DUI and drug charges out of Lycoming County.

Under questioning by Lipscomb, Davis agreed that he owned a white Infiniti, but beyond that, he said, he couldn't recall much else.

He agreed, though, that once he heard his car was possibly involved in the crash, he drove it to Philly and turned it over to police.

Police Officer Jimmy Brown, of the Accident Investigation Division, testified that he took a statement from Davis on April 17.

In court, Davis said he didn't recall giving a statement, prompting Lipscomb to read the statement and question him about it.

According to the statement, on April 13, Davis was helping his girlfriend's mother move from Williamsport, Lycoming County, to her brother's house on Wishart Street in Philadelphia.

At some point that day, Davis said, he double-parked on Wishart and went into the house. With cars trying to get by on the street, Davis said, Colon moved the Infiniti to park it.

Davis allegedly said in the statement that when he went back outside, Colon "was patting his pockets, looking for the remote" key for the car. He said Colon "was looking wide-eyed and anxious."

"I noticed a crease on the hood of my car," Davis said in the statement, adding that he asked Colon, "Yo, did you hit something with my car?" Colon, though, "swore up and down that he didn't hit anything," Davis allegedly said.

While Lipscomb read the statement, asking Davis if he had told police those things, Davis repeatedly replied: "I don't recall."

"A lot of people drive my car a lot," Davis testified in court.

After Davis' testimony, the judge noted that Davis initially refused to come into the courtroom to testify, complaining of chest pains. But the judge said that he asked a sheriff to bring Davis out, and noted that Davis didn't appear to have any medical issues.

Colon's defense attorney, Harvey Yanks, argued there was "absolutely no evidence my client was driving any car at any time that struck anyone." He called the allegations "speculation."

Lipscomb argued that the evidence taken as a whole "is a powerful circumstantial case this defendant was driving the vehicle."

Besides holding Colon for trial, Dugan refused a defense request to lower Colon's $750,000 bail.

On Twitter: @julieshawphilly