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Montco Man Sentenced in DUI Car Crash That Sent Baby in Stroller Flying

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A five time DUI loser pleaded guilty today and was immediately sentenced in a case in which he smashed his car into a baby stroller, injuring the infant inside.

At the time of the crash, the defendant, from Montgomery County, was driving on Aramingo Avenue in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia without a license.

Now, Robert Thomas, 36, has been sentenced to 3½ to 8 years in prison in a case that brought gasps from the courtroom when the baby's mother testified at an earlier hearing.

Demea Trindle testified she was pushing the stroller across the street when Thomas ran the red light and struck the stroller, ripping it out of her hands and sending the baby flying (see related story).

Prosecutor Guy D'Andrea says the child was knocked from the stroller but it could have been worse.

"She was also housed, so to speak,  in a car seat, so she had extra protection from the impact," he notes.

The baby was hospitalized, treated, and released the same day.

The defense says Thomas, who apologized in court,  was not out partying but was on methadone treatment for heroin addiction and should not have been behind the wheel of a car.

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