Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association
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  1. #11
    Join Date
    May 2006
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    127.0.0.1, Pennsylvania
    (Lancaster County)
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    Default Re: Diamond Estate Sales, Strasburg, PA

    Finally charged the driver that killed his kids. Sadly, they don't know where the driver is, so it's going to be a while before the goes to trial. My best is, a plea bargain and a slap on the wrist.

    Northern Lancaster County Regional police have charged the driver of a car-carrying tractor-trailer who they say crashed into and killed a brother and sister at an East Petersburg intersection last year.

    Cesar Torres, 38, of Florida, is charged with two felony counts of homicide by vehicle, two misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter, a summary count of failure to stop at red light and driving at an unsafe speed.

    Torres* tractor-trailer struck the passenger side of an SUV at Graystone Road and Main Street (Route 72) shortly after 9 p.m. May 22, causing the SUV to catch burst into flames, police previously said.

    Mount Joy siblings Brandie Leigh Kasper, 21, and Leonard Christian Kasper, 18, who were inside the SUV, were pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy later determined they died of thermal burns, smoke inhalation and multiple traumatic injuries, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office.

    Torres was evaluated at the scene and released from medical care, police said at the time of the crash. He also underwent a chemical test, which police said was typical in crash investigations involving commercial vehicles.

    A reconstruction of the crash revealed that Torres was traveling between 31 and 33 mph when it "went through a steady red traffic light and struck the passenger side of the [Kasper's] pickup truck." The speed limit in the area was 25 mph.

    The pickup truck was traveling at approximately 7.5 mph, the district attorney's office said.

    Four witnesses saw the crash, the district attorney's office said, and a mechanical inspection of the tractor-trailer turned up no evidence of preexisting failures.

    "Through the investigation, it was concluded that Torres was the sole contributor of the cause of the collision," the district attorney's office said in a press release, adding that Torres had "sufficient time and distance to see the light and come to a controlled stop..."

    The Kaspers* father, Len Kasper, said he believed a longer traffic light delay at the intersection could have saved his children during an interview last year.

    On Thursday, Len Kasper thanked Northern Lancaster County Regional police and the district attorney's office for "bringing charges against Mr. Torres for his tragically negligent and careless actions that stole our beloved children from us and robbed them of their bright futures. However, nothing can heal our hearts as the incomprehensible loss of our precious children has left our family with a life-long sentence of sadness and despair."

    He added that more needs to be done "to ensure the safety of all motorists along this dangerous stretch of deadly road."

    The charges come nearly 11 months after the fatal crash. Sean McBryan, a media specialist and spokesperson with the district attorney's office, said that investigating crashes like this takes time, due to a plethora of reasons.

    "Investigating serious crashes are often complex and labor intensive in order to determine things like the crash sequence, vehicle speeds, sight distance, as well as securing witness accounts," McBryan said. "In this case, those tasks were additionally affected by the retirement of the lead collision reconstructionist during the investigation."

    McBryan added that as of Thursday afternoon, police are still working to apprehend Torres. It was not immediately clear if police believed Torres was in Pennsylvania or Florida.

    The crash is one of several along a roughly 5-mile stretch of Route 72 between Manheim and East Petersburg that have resulted in deaths or serious injuries in the past year, several of which also involved tractor-trailers. East Hempfield Township officials have since announced an emergency response plan to address the fatalities at one intersection along Route 72 less than two miles away from the crash that killed the Kasper siblings.

    - 10-year-old Libby Miller was killed and another person was injured in a crash that happened at Lititz and Lancaster roads (Route 72) in February.

    - 29-year-old Shannon B. McCoy-Rooney was hit and killed by a vehicle while she was trying to cross Main Street (Route 72) near the intersection with Enterprise Road, just south of East Petersburg, in March.

    - Last year a 21-year-old motorcyclist was killed after crashing with two other vehicles, one of them a public works vehicle, near Quarry Road in October.

    - Three people were also hospitalized with traumatic injuries after a head-on crash near Hillside Avenue in Penn Township on Sept. 3.
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    Rules are written in the stone,
    Break the rules and you get no bones,
    all you get is ridicule, laughter,
    and a trip to the house of pain.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    manheim, Pennsylvania
    (Lancaster County)
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    Default Re: Diamond Estate Sales, Strasburg, PA

    Glad they brought charges, what a needless tragedy. Having driven through that intersection thousands of times & walking through it too, I can see exactly how it could happen...

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    manheim, Pennsylvania
    (Lancaster County)
    Posts
    257
    Rep Power
    1570060

    Default Re: Diamond Estate Sales, Strasburg, PA

    I just heard on the news that they arrested the tractor-trailer driver in FL, & he is awaiting extradition to PA.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    127.0.0.1, Pennsylvania
    (Lancaster County)
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    Default Re: Diamond Estate Sales, Strasburg, PA

    Quote Originally Posted by Travis Bickle View Post
    I just heard on the news that they arrested the tractor-trailer driver in FL, & he is awaiting extradition to PA.
    Good, now let's hope our feckless DA doesn't just give him a plea deal.
    Rules are written in the stone,
    Break the rules and you get no bones,
    all you get is ridicule, laughter,
    and a trip to the house of pain.

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