Montco DA praises two doctors for giving crash victim and her son a ‘chance at life’

Guerin Jones and Brent Fryling were strangers — until a chance encounter on a dark road in Whitemarsh Township forever linked them.

And their bravery and selflessness in rendering aid to a pregnant woman in her final moments showed their true dedication to the professional oaths they swore, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said Tuesday.

“I believe fate or a higher power — whatever you believe in — brought you both to the spot of that horrific crash to give Nya Stokes and her baby, Saleh, the best chance to survive," a visibly emotional Steele told the men before giving them a Civilian Commendation for Exceptional Service.

“You each possessed the necessary medical skills to help them,” Steele added. “Civilians like you who rush in to help during an emergency are heroes.”

The award was presented during his office’s annual ceremony honoring law enforcement personnel who show “extraordinary efforts and exemplary work in protecting and serving” the county’s residents.

Other honorees included police officers who helped locate Kenneth Shea, who killed his estranged wife, and a K-9 officer who helped track down evidence connected to the fatal robbery of William Carter in Norristown last year.

Stokes, 24, died of injuries she suffered in a May 4, 2024, car crash along Skippack Pike, investigators said. Her boyfriend, and the father of her child, Jabrial Terry, 28, was driving erratically, high on marijuana, opiates, and other drugs, when he swerved into a ditch and crashed head-on into another car, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

Jones, a physician assistant in the neonatal intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, was two cars behind the Toyota Corolla that Terry crashed into. Fryling, a doctor visiting the area from Beverly, Mass., had been a few cars behind Terry. They rushed to the scene.

“This was just complete strangers working together, whether it was us or fire crew,” Fryling, 55, said. ”I kept on expecting to get asked to leave the scene, and they kept on handing me equipment."

The two men took turns performing CPR, fighting to keep Stokes alive. Medics enlisted Jones to ride with them in the ambulance to Abington Jefferson Hospital.

“I didn’t hesitate,” Jones, 33, said. “I knew that that was the best chance for the baby to survive.”

He was there for the emergency C-section during which Saleh was delivered. And he was there when doctors pronounced Stokes dead not long after the procedure.

Her son lived for five days in critical care. Those five days, Steele said, were a “chance at life” that Stokes’ family would never have received had Jones and Fryling not intervened.

“To rush into that situation and stay with them says so much about the two of you,” Steele said.

Even after Stokes and her son died, Jones and Fryling remained involved, staying in touch with prosecutors and agreeing to testify at court proceedings.

“I just try to think if this was a loved one of mine or if this was my child, I would want someone in the community who had witnessed a car crash to speak up and say what they saw,” Jones said.

In the end, they did not have to testify. Terry pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle and related crimes the day before his trial was expected to begin, and he is serving a six-to-12-year sentence in state prison.

The two provided statements at Terry’s sentencing hearing and met Stokes’ family.

“In an honest way, we were there with someone for her death, so that affects us, too,” Fryling said. “Being able to see [Stokes’] mom and being able to give her a hug was hopefully some help at closure for her, but also for myself, too.

“I will honestly remember her face for a long time.”