A Wilkes-Barre man accused of running a pedestrian down in a hit-and-run crash has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, according to court records.
Trevon K. Norwood, 23, of South Grant Street, entered his plea last week in exchange for prosecutors dropping additional charges — including fleeing the scene of a deadly crash, a charge that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison.
Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas accepted the plea and set sentencing for May 30.
Prosecutors said police were first dispatched to the area of Amber Lane and North Grant Street to a report of a suspicious man stabbing a tree with a knife shortly after midnight on May 29, 2023.
Moments later, the man was reported to be lying unresponsive in the street.
Police arriving on scene found 48-year-old Troy A. Carter on the pavement in front of 70 Amber Lane, bleeding steadily from his head.
An autopsy concluded Carter died of “massive crushing head trauma” and that the manner was accidental, according to prosecutors.
Surveillance footage showed Carter standing next to a tree before he either jumped or fell into the road.
After he was in the road, footage showed two vehicles — a gray Volkswagen Jetta and a white Nissan Altima — coming down Amber Lane at a high rate of speed, prosecutors said.
The Jetta, which was in the front, swerved around Carter, but the Altima ran over his head, according to the charges.
Police obtained the vehicles’ license plate numbers using video from the scene and identified Norwood as the driver of the Altima, the charges alleged.
During questioning, Norwood denied having hit anyone, saying “I never hit anybody with no car in my life, sir. You’re a thousand percent wrong,” the complaint alleges.
Following his guilty plea on March 21, Norwood was allowed to remain free on unsecured bail pending sentencing.
