Penn Hills man pleads guilty to 2019 fatal hit-and-run crash

A Penn Hills man pleaded guilty Monday morning to homicide by vehicle and leaving the scene of a fatal accident in the death and dragging of a man three years ago.

Surron Burch, 24, faces a mandatory penalty of 3 to 6 years in prison when he is sentenced by Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Edward J. Borkowski on June 6.

Assistant District Attorney Ryan Kiray said Burch was driving his girlfriend’s car on the night of April 28, 2019, when he struck Joseph Morris, 51, who was walking home from work on Hershey Avenue.

Kiray said that Morris was thrown over the car after being struck and landed in the opposite lane. Another vehicle then ran him over, causing him to be dragged for more than a half-mile to Universal Road.

Morris died from trauma to his head and neck.

Kiray told the court Monday that detectives identified the type of car involved by pieces of it found at the scene and video captured nearby. After a news release was issued by Allegheny County Police, investigators received a tip on May 10 that led them to Hi View Gardens in McKeesport where they found the car.

It was owned by Modesty Hopper, who was dating Burch, Kiray said.

She initially told detectives that the car was uninsured and no one drove it. She claimed a tree branch fell on it, causing the damage.

However, video taken from the apartment complex the day of the crash showed Burch getting into the car around 4 p.m. and driving away and then returning around 10 p.m.

A series of text messages from that day also showed Burch telling Hopper he was taking the car, and her asking him to buy marijuana.

When she was interviewed by detectives, Hopper refused to identify Burch. She was charged with hindering apprehension and pleaded guilty last year. Borkowski ordered her to time served and gave her two years of probation.

On Monday, defense attorney Milt Raiford said that his client pleaded guilty because he feels remorse for his reckless conduct that night.

Attorney Milt Raiford discusses the plea today of Surron Burch, who admitted to a fatal hit & run in Penn Hills in 2019. The victim, Joseph Morris, was struck by another car and dragged for half a mile. Burch will be sentenced June 6 and faces a mandatory 3-6 year prison term. pic.twitter.com/yaOYhrR8p8

— Paula Reed Ward (@PaulaReedWard) March 7, 2022

“He at one point had to fess up to it. He confronted the fact of how the family must have felt,” Raiford said. “When you get a level of remorse, contrition, accountability … that led him to enter a plea today.”

Kiray told the court that investigators found that the car Burch was driving had “dangerously unresponsive” brakes, and that the only way to stop the car was by using the hand brake.

According to the accident reconstruction, the car had been traveling at 45 miles per hour at the time of impact.