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Also, authorities later acknowledged that the policeman who identified Woods as the SUV driver (from mug shots not a lineup) had in fact only seen the driver momentarily as the vehicle passed him at a high rate of speed on a darkened road shortly after midnight, prompting a chase that ended in the death of a Villanova University student and serious injuries to that student's friend.
A skilled prosecutor could have used that shaky (midnight) identification by the policeman to sink Woods during a trial because many jurors accept testimony from police without question.
Herdelin's intervention in all likelihood also contributed to Sayers' confessing and surrendering to police, which compelled authorities to release their original suspect.
Herdelin credits Haverford Township detectives with examining the evidence he provided, while Woods, for his part, claims he holds no anger against police who were just "doing their jobs."
Herdelin, however, did find aspects of police handling of this case to be "disgusting."
"How can someone be involved in a 100-mile-per-hour crash and not have a scratch on them?" Herdelin asks, wondering why doubts weren't raised in the minds of investigators by the lack of any accident- related injuries on Woods when they arrested him, within just hours of the incident.
Also, during remarks to reporters prior to his going to the county lock-up to take Woods home, Herdelin pointed an accusing finger at the news media. "To desecrate a person's name, forcing them to lose their reputation and their job, is outrageous," he said.
Woods, immediately after his arrest, was fired from the McDonald's restaurant where he had just begun working as an employee.
Delaware County DA Green, during his press conference, said he hoped the restaurant that had fired Woods would rehire him, not holding Woods responsibility for the mistake made by authorities. Herdelin said that if McDonald's didn't rehire Woods, he would give him a job.
