Thomas Druce: Pennsylvania’s Not Proud

 Worlds Collide, Tragedy Ensues
Capitol Crimes,” Forensic Files

The last four posts told the story of Mark Winger, whose crimes fascinated the public because of their unlikelihood and the intricate planning they entailed.

Thomas W. Druce before his fall from grace.

The actions of hit-and-run driver Thomas W. Druce, on the other hand, involved no diabolical blueprint. The Pennsylvania legislator’s decision to leave Kenneth Cains dying next to the road was born of common self-preservation instinct.

Literally. Although few people are callous enough to replicate all of Druce’s actions, everyone can relate to the way desperation dissolves morality.

Capitol Crimes,” the Forensic Files episode about Druce’s offenses, was absorbing because of the predictable way it unfolded, confirming what viewers would pretty much suspect all along.

The deadly clash of two men worlds apart in socio-economic status (both of whom drank inadvisably) was something of a real-life Bonfire of the Vanities.

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Hasty decision. It starts on July 27, 1999, when Thomas Druce, a 38-year-old member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, was driving home after having drinks with co-workers in Harrisburg, the state capital.

Druce hit and mortally wounded pedestrian Kenneth Cains, a former Marine who worked as a day laborer.

Investigators determined that Cains had a blood-alcohol level of 0.17 percent, twice what’s considered impaired, which possibly contributed to his stepping into traffic on Cameron Street.

Whether or not Cains, 42, was walking in a careless fashion didn’t matter once Druce fled the scene without checking on the injured man or calling 911. The politician instantly turned himself into a criminal.

Another driver witnessed the accident and summoned the authorities. He had seen the brake lights go on right before the vehicle zipped away but couldn’t determine its make or model. Paramedics pronounced Kenneth Cains dead at the scene.

Carded. By taping together fragments found near the scene, police officer Raymond Lyda uncovered a Chrysler logo and concluded that the car was a 1996 or 1997 Jeep Cherokee.

Victim Kenneth Cains of Harrisburg.
Kenneth Cains

The leads stopped there until the police received an anonymous Christmas card a few months later. It suggested they investigate Rep. Thomas Druce because he had taken in his state-provided black Jeep Cherokee for repairs and traded in the vehicle shortly after Kenneth Cains’ killing.

The story unspooled pretty quickly from there. Druce told investigators what just about any criminal trying to cover up a deadly hit and run would — that he didn’t stop because he thought he struck an object (a traffic barrel), not a person.

He also lied by asserting the accident took place on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Then, he explained, he had the cracked windshield fixed and traded the car in because he wanted a vehicle with lower mileage.

Druce claimed that a stop he made at the state capital building happened before the accident and that he did so to pick up some files.

Once investigators obtained the ID of the Jeep, they traced it to an unsuspecting consumer who had purchased it from a car dealership.

Questionable malfunction. Despite the repairs and many washings, the car held a cache of evidence. Glass lodged in Cains’ elbow and paint on his clothing matched those of the Jeep. Investigators recovered a hair in the seam of the side-view mirror and determined it had come from Cains’ arm.

The police suspected Druce made the visit to his office after the accident, to assess the damage. The video camera at the gate Druce entered that night had mysteriously stopped working, and the “capital cop” — the complex has its own police force — who witnessed the car enter the parking lot retired shortly after the incident.

Investigators discovered that, on his insurance claim, Druce had said he hit a sign, not a traffic barrel.

Thomas Druce (center) heading to court
Thomas Druce (center) heading to court

On March 16, 2000, Druce was arrested and charged with numerous crimes, including homicide by vehicle.

A Philadelphia Inquirer story by Glen Justice and Rena Singer described Druce at his court date:

“Druce, in a wrinkled blue suit, chewed gum and appeared nervous at his arraignment, where he also was charged with leaving the scene of an accident — which carries a mandatory jail sentence. The eyes of Druce’s wife, Amy, filled with tears as District Justice Joseph S. Solomon rejected the 38-year-old lawmaker’s attempt to pay 10 percent of his $20,000 bail with a personal check.”

Money buys time. In September 2000, Druce pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, evidence tampering, and insurance fraud. He resigned from office, got a sentence of two to four years, and paid a civil fine of $100,000 to Cains’ brother and two sisters.

Thanks to various legal maneuvers, Druce didn’t go to jail until 2004. (His attorneys argued unsuccessfully that the time Druce spent with an electronic monitoring device on his ankle and an evening curfew should be subtracted from his jail sentence.)

On March 13, 2006, after serving two years of his sentence, Druce was paroled. He exited Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands prison with his political career destroyed.

In a statement, Druce came close to admitting what he’d denied for years: that he knew his car struck a person, not an object:

“Although the state police ruled the accident was ‘unavoidable’ since Mr. Cains stepped onto the roadway and into the path of my car,” Druce said, “I have no excuse for not stopping near the scene and reporting the accident to the police.”

Indeed, calling 911 after the accident and giving an honest account might have gotten Druce off with a DUI plea — or nothing if his blood-alcohol level tested below 0.10 percent, Pennsylvania’s generous legal limit before Act 24 in 2003.

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Druce “might well have fled the scene of his innocence,” as then-columnist Dennis Roddy put it in a January 2000 Pittsburgh Post Gazette piece.

More important, reporting the accident would have spared Kenneth Cains’ family the anguish of knowing the driver of the car that killed their brother didn’t care enough to stop.

Upcoming posts will contemplate the role race or class, or both, played in the handling of the tragedy and give a post-conviction epilogue for those involved.

Until then, cheers. RR


Update: Read Part 2 or Part 3 of the Thomas Druce story.

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube

 

12 thoughts on “Thomas Druce: Pennsylvania’s Not Proud”

  1. Regardless of whether we had drunk and feared we may be over the limit, I wonder how many of us would stop in these circumstances? I’d like to think I would — and I think I would — and that most would; but I can understand that panic and trauma at the event may lead one to make the wrong decision. There are cases where drivers have continued, in panic, they claim, then called police at their destination, when they’ve had a moment to reflect. This, though, may have made the difference between life and death were the victim unfound, and I guess the argument is that this outweighs potentially understandable panic (psychological ‘flight’) by fleeing the scene.

    In Druce’s case, it was possibly too easy to imbue him with particular self-interest as a politician: How will this look to voters? On saying that, he did have the opportunity after the fact to come clean. He could have said that he initially thought he’d struck an object, so didn’t stop, but on arrival at his destination he saw blood on the car — or some such — and to his horror he realised he must have struck a person. That would have been plausible and allowed him to sober-up somewhat. It would probably have prevented a charge of fleeing the scene.

    The booze factor aside, this case is one all drivers could find themselves in…

    1. The panic and fear definitely are understandable. Maybe he did intend to use the sober-up and report it later approach you mentioned, and then decided he could walk away altogether. I don’t understand why he didn’t just call 911 for the victim and then dial up a lawyer for himself — surely he knew that a good attorney can work wonders.

  2. It’s funny how your comments focus on how he could have avoided trouble with no thoughts towards the person who lost his life as a result of his actions or even inaction. He left him to die alone on the side of the road and did all that he could to cover it up. Had this been a child, white woman, and a Black driver, I guarantee there would have been no plea bargain and he’d probably still be on prison. This is such a thing as white America and privilege. Rape, kill, steal, and if you’re white and wealthy, you walk 99% of the time. But “the Lord sayeth, vengeance is mines.” Everyone gets their just deserts, and he’ll be wishing he was in prison when that day comes.

  3. Current New Britain Republic Club Prez Robert Harle refers to Druce as a “Great Guy.” Curiously this POS had political people propping him up all along the way. A prime example of everything wrong with American politics today!

  4. “The deadly clash of two men worlds apart in socio-economic status (both of whom drank inadvisably) was something of a real-life Bonfire of the Vanities.”

    I don’t think clash is the most appropriate term for what happened between Cains and Druce. While it seemingly describes what happened between them, an encounter, it also has a subtext and gives the impression that at some point the violence inflicted by Thomas Druce (who very well might have purposefully hit Cains) was somehow returned by Mr. Cains. This was clearly not the case.

    1. Good point — I guess it was more of a random encounter between the two men. The “clash” was really between Druce and those seeking justice for Cains.

  5. And at no point do I understand leaving someone dead after hitting them with a vehicle. I suppose for some they understand Druce’s logic, but for most, hopefully, fear is not an excuse to act in a craven manner.

  6. I’m delighted to have found your blog. I have a “Forensic Files” blog which generally uses quotes. I enjoy your writing style.

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