In April of 2008, Philander Yardley Jordan, a 39-year-old man from Spring Hope, North Carolina, was involved in a fatal car crash in Dale City, Virginia.
Today, InsideNOVA.com reports that Jordan has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in regards to the incident. The trial is taking place in Prince William Circuit Court. Jordan is being held without bond until his sentencing on March 5, 2009, when he will likely face one to twenty years in prison for his automobile offence.
In the April accident, Jordan was driving in the right hand southbound lane of I-95 in Dale City, Virginia, when he collided into the back of a car driving on the right soft shoulder of the highway, traveling under the speed limit. The accident happened a few minutes after 8 p.m. near the 158.2 mile marker on Interstate 95, according to Virginia State Police.
The two cars spun out of control after the crash occurred, with both cars coming to rest in the embankment off the side of the road. Although Philander Jordan suffered only minor injuries, the driver of the other vehicle, Michael Niounou of Silver Spring, was seriously injured.
When emergency personnel arrived at the scene, they rushed Niounou to the Fairfax Inova Hospital, where he later died on complications from his injuries.
In the criminal complaint, Virginia State Trooper Aaron Adams reported that Philander Jordan exhibited signs of being drunk at the scene. When he was tested back at the station, police found that his blood alcohol level was 0.15, almost twice the legal limit of 0.08. The evidence of his drunkenness was also included in the criminal complaint, which is now on file at the Prince William Circuit Court.