A Nov. 8 hit-and-run in this area, the 6000 block of West Valley Green Road in Flourtown, took the life of one man as his brother saw the impact. (Image courtesy of Google StreetView)
The Whitemarsh Township Police Department have issued additional charges stemming from a fatal November hit-and-run in which a brother witnessed the death of his sibling.
The Nov. 8 vehicle accident
Police were called to an accident on Nov. 8, around 3:18 p.m., in the 6000 block of West Valley Road in Whitemarsh Township, as previously reported by Wissahickon Now here. The accident was initially reported as a crash involving a pedestrian.
Upon arrival, police said that the lifeless body of Artemio De La Rosa Martinez, 35, was laying in the northbound lane of West Valley Green Road. The striking vehicle, according to the police criminal complaint, was a 2014 darkly colored Chevrolet Malibu with a Delaware temporary registration. Police said that car was left abandoned at the scene, and they were unable to locate the driver.
A Nov. 9 autopsy of Martinez later determined that the cause of his death was a blunt force injury sustained in the crash.
Both Whitemarsh Township Police Department’s Traffic Safety Unit and the Montgomery County Detective Bureau investigated the incident. As a result, authorities said that Martinez was carried and “thrown” approximately 168 feet from the point of impact. The force of the impact dislodged his shoe from his foot, coming to rest about 36 feet above the ground in a tree, police said.
Witnesses assist in investigation
Witnesses at the scene told police that a man was on the phone, requesting a ride home. He was wearing a grey shirt and dark-colored pants, police said. A man walking his dog on the nearby trail said he was described as being a Hispanic male, 5’8” in height, seen running on the trail near the site of the accident.
“The male seemed distraught as he was looking around, and talking on a cellular phone,” said the police complaint. “The witness heard the male say ‘Mom, please, mom, mom, please, mom’ as he continued to run past his position.” The witness said the man was headed toward the golf course, said police.
Another witness said they saw the man get into a van with a slider-style door soon after, jumping over the guide rail to enter, police said.
According to the criminal complaint, the police interviewed Martinez’s brother, Oscar, who witnessed his brother’s death. Oscar said that he saw the vehicle hit his brother, after the two had finished blowing leaves off of the roadway working as landscapers.
Oscar told police that he confronted the driver, stating “Why did you run over my brother?” and that the driver replied, “It’s your brother’s fault; he was in the street,” before fleeing on foot, failing to call for help or assistance, police said.
Seeking the driver in a hit-and-run
A member of the Springfield Township Police Department knew the vehicle left at the scene from “prior contacts” and identified the driver from prior incidents as Shakim Elias Mendez, who has a brother named Hector Mendez. Hector, police said, drives a red Chevy Impala, which police issued a BOLO for immediately.
The car was traced via a real-time license plate reader to be in the area of Ogontz Avenue and Shoppers Lane in Cheltenham, said the complaint. Philadelphia Police Department stopped the Impala in that vicinity around 5:35 p.m. that same evening of Nov. 8.
Police said that the Impala driver attempted to flee, but was stopped, and the driver was identified as Shakim Elias Mendez, with the passenger being Hector. Both brothers were taken into custody at that time, said police.
During an investigation by police, it was discovered that Shakim Eliaz Mendez had removed a court-ordered GPS device, with which he was outfitted with on Oct. 8 due to being an “adjudicated delinquent for various drug and firearm offenses,” said the complaint.
However, data from the GPS tracker was at the scene of the crash at the precise time of the impact, said police. The tracker put Mendez at his home in Flourtown briefly before heading north on Route 309 to the Highland Avenue exit and then getting onto Interstate 276, traveling eastbound to the Plymouth Meeting Mid-County exchange, said the complaint. At 3:51 p.m., the tracker stops near mile marker 336.3 on the Interstate’s eastbound lanes, said police.
Police said that they were able to confirm that, on Nov. 8, the day of the hit-and-run, Mendez arrived to work at 10:01 a.m. in a dark-colored sedan, which he parked in the employee lot. The video shows the exact vehicle he left at the scene later exiting his workplace at 12:44 p.m. Mendez had told police Nov. 8 that he had not driven any other car, outside of the red Impala, that day, police said. The temporary tags on the Malibu at the scene were found to be fictitious, said police. A “permit to drive a vehicle until expiration of plates” was found in the Malibu’s glovebox, police said, which contained the name of Mendez. A Pennsylvania driver’s license with Mendez’s image and name were found in the center of the Malibu’s console, per the complaint.
Investigating the abandoned vehicle
A post-crash vehicle inspection of the vehicle on Nov. 21 at Collegeville’s DeWane’s Garage showed that the Malibu that struck Martinez was traveling between 68 and 70 mph at the time of the crash, police said. The speed limit in the vicinity is 25 mph.
Additionally, police said that the tinting of the Malibu’s windshield, in addition to the 49-degree angle of the seat’s recline, meant that the driver could have only had around seven inches of visible space out of the front windshield “significantly obstructing the driver’s view.”
Alleged assistance from a mother
Police utilized Mendez’s address in the 200 block of Sunnybrook Road in Flourtown, to trace all vehicles registered to the address via a PennDOT database.
Angela Rose Schorpp, 45, of the 200 block of Sunnybrook Road in Flourtown, Mendez’s mother, and Charles B. Schorpp Jr. of the same address and Mendez’s stepfather, had four total cars registered in their names. One of the cars was a Honda Odyssey, police said. The vehicle was seen moments after the crash near the incident via traffic cameras. The van was stuck at the light for multiple cycles on West Valley Green Road as emergency vehicles were responding to the fatal accident, said the complaint.
According to police, the van then turns left onto westbound Stenton per the video, and now has a female operating the van and a male passenger resembling Mendez. A check of Mendez’s GPS tracker also shows he was in that area at the same time, police said.
Police said that, on Dec. 5, they reported to the mother’s place of employment where they saw the same van and tags in the front of the building. Upon interviewing Angela Schropp, she admitted to picking up her son, whom she calls Elias, after the crash.
In a Dec. 6 phone call, Schropp told police she was concerned that Elias was in an accident, as he told her when he called. She wanted to pick him up to take him to Abington Hospital but took him home instead, police said. She said once home, Elias took the red Impala with his brother and left the home, said the complaint.
Police said that, at no time, did Schropp return to the scene of Elias’ crash, nor did she make an attempt to reach police to report the crash she knew her son was involved in on Nov. 8.
Based on the investigation, Schropp is facing a felony charge of hindering the apprehension or prosecution of a criminal, providing aid. She was released on a bond signature and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 22 at 10 a.m. before Magisterial District Judge Dara Nasatir.
Charges for the driver
Shakim Elias Mendez, 18, of Flourtown, who was found to be the driver of the Malibu that struck and killed Martinez police said, was charged with felony counts of homicide by vehicle, accidents involving death or personal injury, three misdemeanors including fraud by forgery of a title or registration, use of display documents, and unsworn falsification to authorities, along with 14 summary offenses related offenses stemming from the hit-and-run. Mendez is awaiting a preliminary hearing on the matter, previously slated for Dec. 2.
“Mendez has been charged with homicide by vehicle and numerous other charges,” commented Whitemarsh Police Chief Christopher Ward to WissNow. “There is an active warrant for his arrest. He is a fugitive.”
Mendez is additionally facing felony charges in Philadelphia for fleeing from police on Nov. 8, after the accident. The charges are related to the driving with his brother, Hector, in the red Impala. A formal arraignment was scheduled for Dec. 9 but was canceled. A pre-trial conference was held on Dec. 30, with a pretrial “bring back” slated for March 3, 2025, regarding his Philadelphia fleeing charges, according to court documents.
In unrelated charges, Mendez also has an outstanding traffic offense dated Oct. 6, 2024, for driving an unregistered vehicle, according to court documents. The violation was filed in Royersford Borough and is currently labeled as inactive and awaiting a plea.
