Man Pleads Guilty in Fatal Rockville Pike Hit and Run

The man charged in faces up to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to homicide by motor vehicle while under the influence.

Michael Charles Dalton Jr. entered the guilty plea in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville on March 1, The Gazette reported this week.

Dalton, 23, from Perkasie, Pa., was living in College Park at the time of the incident.

Roberto Nassar, 30, of the unit block of South Frederick Road in Gaithersburg, was operating a motor scooter northbound on Rockville Pike near Edmonston Drive when police say it was struck from behind by a tan 1997 Buick LeSabre driven by Dalton. Nassar was thrown from the scooter. He was taken to a local hospital where he died. 

Dalton also faces sentencing May 25 on one of three original charges filed in the case, for failing to stop at the scene of an accident resulting in death, The Gazette reported.

While guidelines call for a sentence of up to four years, judges are not bound by the guidelines and prosecutors and Dalton’s defense attorney can ask for a sentence of up to 10 years, The Gazette reported.

A police investigation of the incident closed a portion of Rockville Pike for about six hours in the early morning of Sept. 22.

Police spotted the Buick at 1:26 a.m. on Rockville Pike near Veirs Mill Road with the scooter attached to the front of the car, according to a county police news release. Officers from the county police's 1st District and Rockville City Police stopped the Buick near Rockville Pike and Richard Montgomery Drive.

According to charging documents, “An officer drew his firearm on Dalton when he started driving toward an officer approaching his car on foot,” The Gazette reported.

Dalton failed a field sobriety test and argued with officers, The Gazette reported.