Witnesses: Ex-D.A. accused in hit-run had been drinking

A DELAWARE COUNTY assistant district attorney, arrested Sunday in a hit-and-run accident earlier this month in Upper Darby in which a teenager was critically injured, had been drinking at a bar before the crash, court documents show.

Michael Donohue, 31, of Havertown, had worked five years with the D.A.'s office before he resigned last week in the midst of the investigation, according to police and prosecutors.

About 10:30 p.m. Nov. 4, the 14-year-old victim was skateboarding on Township Line Road near Bryan Street when he was hit, police said. The driver drove off, but about 30 yards away, he stopped, got out of the car, checked the front of the vehicle, then returned to his car and fled, Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said a witness had told investigators. The driver never checked on the boy, the witness said.

The victim, who was initially in critical condition with bleeding on the brain and hip fractures, 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 had seen Donohue at a bar near the Delaware County Courthouse drinking beer after work and before the accident. One witness estimated that Donohue was at the bar for almost six hours, court documents said.

Chitwood declined to say whether any of the witnesses were Donohue's co-workers.

On Nov. 6, police went to the Roxborough house of one of Donohue's relatives and found the vehicle suspected to have been involved in the crash, according to court records.

"This is the ultimate cowardly act," Chitwood said. "It's unconscionable, it's heinous."

Donohue hired a lawyer and later quit his job, Chitwood said.

Donohue's attorney is William Davis Jr., who worked in the county D.A.'s office before taking a position with the state Attorney General's Office in 2008. Davis left that post for private practice this year.

"Obviously, [Donohue] has the same rights as any other citizen," Davis said. "Even despite his former position, he does still have the presumption of innocence."

Donohue has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving death or personal injury, with aggravated assault and with related offenses.

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