On January 28, 2019, Jonathan Kidder, age 59, of Berlin, Maryland, was sentenced by the Honorable Beau H. Oglesby to serve ten years in the Maryland Division of Corrections. Kidder was convicted by a Worcester County jury of negligent homicide by motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and failing to stop and remain at the scene of an accident involving death on November 8, 2018.
The charges stem from a May 6, 2018 incident during which 38 year old Jose Eduardo Madrid Pineda had been riding his bicycle when he was struck by a GMC Yukon operated by Kidder at Route 589 and Gum Point Road. Kidder did not remain at the scene. Mr. Madrid Pineda was thrown to the shoulder of the road by the impact and eventually succumbed to his injuries after being transported to Atlantic General Hospital. Later that same evening, Kidder caused another collision by rear-ending a vehicle in the area of Route 50 and Keyser Point Road in West Ocean City, Maryland. He once again fled the scene. The operator of the other vehicle involved was able to identify Kidder and reported that he appeared intoxicated and smelled of alcohol. The pieces of the GMC Yukon and other evidence collected at the scene of the first collision were ultimately used to identify it as the vehicle that had struck and killed Madrid Pineda. Law enforcement was unable to locate Kidder that night, but he eventually turned himself in to authorities on May 10, 2018.
Because of the tragic consequences of Kidder’s actions, his failure to stop and render aid to Madrid Pineda and flight from the second collision, as well as his three prior alcohol-related driving convictions, Assistant State’s Attorney Paul Haskell argued that the Court sentence Kidder to the maximum of 20 years’ incarceration. Worcester County State’s Attorney Kris Heiser commended the Maryland State Police for their detailed work in accident reconstruction and investigation of this case, and thanked ASA Haskell for his thorough presentation to the Court at sentencing.
