Fleeing woman kills officer, maims another

Any auto accident that terminates in a wrongful death is tragic but one Pennsylvania woman?EUR(TM)s desperate attempt to flee from a recent traffic stop bagged her one homicide of a police officer, with an attempted manslaughter of another, as well as a fleeing and eluding charge.

According to the Associated Press that has been systematically updating the story, the 26-year-old western Pennsylvania woman smashed into a police cruiser, killing one officer and injuring another, while running from a traffic stop near Pittsburgh earlier this month.

New Castle police related that the female driver now in custody was driving erratically with a suspended license when she refused to pull over and sped away, crashing some distance down the road into the side door of a police officer?EUR(TM)s cruiser about 45 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

The driver of the struck police car, a 35-year-old officer, sustained a fractured hip and ankle and was treated at the local Jameson Hospital.

The erratic defendant slammed into the passenger side door, killing the second officer who was sitting in the passenger seat. According to witnesses, after the collision, the police vehicle traveled approximately 200 feet and collided with yet another vehicle.

An official from the local district attorney?EUR(TM)s office lamented to reporters that what would have amounted to a traffic ticket is now a homicide charge.

The erratic driver who was injured in the collision was being extradited to Pittsburgh, where officials there noted that she had a history of seven traffic citations in the past two years. Reportedly, she ran four stop signs before striking the cruiser. The driver of the vehicle that ran the stop signs allegedly told police she did a stupid thing.

A skilled and experienced defense counsel will do his or her best to mitigate what are not only serious crimes but a tragic wrongful death. The officer who died was an investigator for the local district attorney?EUR(TM)s office.

Source:  ABC 27.com, "Western Pa. woman jailed in officer's fatal crash" No Author Given, Associated Press, May. 15, 2013