A young British tourist who allegedly drove the wrong way down a road in Rockland County — crashing into another car and leaving two kids in critical condition — is back in the states to answer criminal charges.
Thomas Robb is charged with fleeing back to his home country following the July 2022 smash-up in Blauvelt that left Jacquelyn Pachay with a shattered wrist and her then-6- and 7-year-old with injuries.
Robb, then 20, was charged with assault, leaving the scene of an incident with serious physical injury, reckless endangerment, and reckless driving.
But after being released on $25,000 bail, he left the country and returned to the UK, prompting a judge to issue an arrest warrant.
Following a legal battle lasting over two years and involving both the Department of Justice and the Rockland District Attorney’s Office, Robb was extradited to the US to face trial.
He is accused of driving the wrong way on Greenbush Road and onto Route 303, in a rented BMW.
The BMW collided first with a 2017 Chevrolet Cruze, driven by the mom of the two wounded children, which then smashed into a 2021 Dodge Challenger.
Cops said that the other passengers in the car, who were also from the UK, fled the scene following the crash and ran towards the nearby Metro-North tracks.
Robb allegedly used the passport of one of his triplet brothers to illegally return to the UK, British outlet The Sunday Express reported previously.
The landscape gardener from the village of Roydon in Essex, southeast England, was later arrested at a private health clinic in May last year, 21 months after his escape.
He was held in custody in Wandsworth, southwest London, before his full extradition hearing in November.
His lawyer, Karen Todner, told The Sunday Express her client was “absolutely traumatized” by what had happened.
“He was on holiday abroad without his parents for the first time and simply made the mistake of driving on the wrong side of the road with terrible consequences,” she said. “He is extremely remorseful.”
The mom of the two children, Jacquelyn Pachay of Newark, New Jersey, also suffered a shattered left wrist in the crash.
After he failed to show up for his scheduled court appearance in August 2022, she slammed his actions.
“Makes me very angry because if he’s nervous, that’s fine,” she told CBS New York at the time. “You can be nervous. But my son is not up. So I feel like he doesn’t have any remorse.”
Jaquelyn’s 6-year-old son suffered a critical head injury in the crash while her 7-year-old also spent a week in hospital.
His grandmother, Katherine Fort, branded Robb a “coward.”
She told CBS at the time, “I was at court and I think it’s a coward. Everyone says he made a mistake. If it’s a mistake, face the mistake.”
Robb was due in Rockland County Court Wednesday.
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