Tajair Delbridge was charged with fleeing a fatal crash in Bucks County

A Frankford man who prosecutors in Bucks County say hit a skateboarder invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer even basic questions before a grand jury after pressuring the owner of the car he was driving during the hit-and-run crash to falsely report the vehicle as stolen, court records show.

Tajair Delbridge, 25, turned himself in to police on Friday and was charged with accidents resulting in death, tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice and related offenses in the killing of Joel Moreau in a Nov. 24 traffic accident in Bristol Township, officials said.

Moreau, 28, was riding his skateboard on Haines Road at about 10:16 p.m. when he was struck by a red Kia K5 driven by Delbridge, according to the grand jury indictment. Witnesses said Delbridge turned around to look at the scene after the crash but then sped off without looking at Moreau.

Delbridge’s attorney, Eugene Tinari, did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Delbridge remained in custody Tuesday because $200,000 bail could not be posted.

Moreau was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene of the accident.

Those witnesses saw Delbridge turn onto a nearby street and helped police locate the K5, which was parked in front of a house several miles from the crash scene, court records show. The vehicle had sustained significant front-end damage from the collision.

While police were trying to determine the identity of the driver, they were tipped off by the owner of the Kia. She told investigators she tracked the car to the Bristol Township Police Department detention center using a GPS device installed in the car. The woman explained that her friend owned a private car rental business and rented the vehicle for her to make extra money.

When the women were informed that the Kia had been involved in an accident, they immediately identified Delbridge as the person who had last rented the Kia.

The women told police Delbridge contacted them less than an hour after the crash and said they needed to report the vehicle stolen. Delbridge told them he had been abducted by three armed men after stopping on the side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Surveillance footage from a store near the accident scene showed Delbridge and a passenger driving into a parking lot after the accident and examining the damage to the car, the indictment said.

In her testimony before the grand jury, the woman admitted that she had been riding in the car with Delbridge that night and witnessed the accident in which she suffered head injuries. She said she did not realize at the time that Delbridge had struck a person.

In his own statement, Delbridge refused to answer the prosecutor’s questions. For example, he did not want to know what his phone number was or whether he knew the woman who was in the car with him that evening.

He is scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge Kevin Wagner for a preliminary hearing on June 4.